a provincial governor in Germany under Hitler
informal (sometimes not capital) a person in a position of petty or local authority who behaves in an overbearing authoritarian manner
1935–40; < German, equivalent to Gau region + Leiter director
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Munich's Gauleiter, Herr Giesler, put his spies to work and arrested three "ringleaders," Hans and Maria Scholl and Adrian Probst.
From Time Magazine Archive
Most startling and circumstantial indication of potential trouble in Germany was a kind of pastoral letter, signed by Erich Koch, Nazi Gauleiter for East Prussia, and apparently circulated among party leaders of the district.
From Time Magazine Archive
But the war had begun, and Niirnberg's Gauleiter, the notorious Julius Streicher, insisted that Erhard join a Nazi labor organization; Erhard refused, and was fired.
From Time Magazine Archive
This itself was a strange commentary on the Army's and the Navy's "Gauleiter" schools at the University of Virginia and Columbia, where the teaching has been directed at post-war occupation problems.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Yes, he’s a courier for Gauleiter Koch. He was wounded and says Koch appointed you as his personal nurse.”
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
