Definition of "praetor"

(history) The title designating a Roman administrative official whose role changed over time:

1. (originally) A consul in command of the army.  examples

2. (after 366 BC) An annually-elected curule magistrate, subordinate to the consuls in provincial administration, and who performed some of their duties; numbering initially only one, later two (either of the praetor urbānus (“urban praetor”) or the praetor peregrīnus (“peregrine praetor”)), and eventually eighteen.  examples

(by extension) A high civic or administrative official, especially a chief magistrate or mayor. Sometimes used as a title.  examples

(historical, translating Italian "pretore") The title of the chief magistrate, the mayor, and/or the podestà in Palermo, in Verona, and in various other parts of 17th- and 18th-century Italy.