noun Government by a protector; especially, The Protectorate: government of England, Scotland, and Ireland between 1653 and 1659 under the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth Oliver Cromwell, later his son Richard Cromwell.
noun The office or position of the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth.
noun The authority assumed by a state over another state deemed inferior or dependent, whereby the former protects the latter from invasion and shares in the management of its affairs but the protected state retains its nominal sovereignty.
Egypt became a British protectorate in 1914.
noun An autonomous state under protectorate.
noun The office or position of protector (sense 5).