The verb govern has 4 senses (first 3 from tagged texts)
1. (11) regulate, regularize, regularise, order, govern -- (bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations; "We cannot regulate the way people dress"; "This town likes to regulate")
2. (9) govern -- (direct or strongly influence the behavior of; "His belief in God governs his conduct")
3. (3) govern, rule -- (exercise authority over; as of nations; "Who is governing the country now?")
4. govern -- (require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood; "most transitive verbs govern the accusative case in German")