Definition of "protector"

protector

/pɹəˈtɛktɚ/

noun
plural protectors, feminine protectress or protectrix
1. Someone who protects or guards, by assignment or on their own initiative.
  Quotations
  I stand before you in the spirit of pure public service — not as a protector of the status quo, but as an agent of change.
  2005 January 3, Jon Huntsman Jr., quoted in “Highlights from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s inauguration speech”, Deseret News, 4 January 2005
2. A device or mechanism which is designed to protect.
3. One who prevents interference.
4. A state or other subject under international law, exercising a protectorate over another subject in international law.
5. (UK, historical) One having the care of the kingdom during the king's minority; a regent.
  Quotations
  My Lord Protector, ’tis his Highnes pleaſure, You do prepare to ride vnto S. Albons, / Where as the King and Queene do mean to Hawke.
  1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii], page 122, column 2
6. (Roman Catholicism) A cardinal, from one of the more considerable Roman Catholic nations, who looks after the interests of his people at Rome; also, a cardinal who has the same relation to a college, religious order, etc.