The Collaborative International Dictionary
Provost \Prov"ost\, n. [OF. provost (L. prae and pro being confused), F. prev[^o]t, fr. L. praepositus placed before, a chief, fr. praeponere to place before: cf. AS. pr[=a]fost, pr[=o]fast. See Preposition, and cf. Propound.]
A person who is appointed to superintend, or preside over, something; the chief magistrate in some cities and towns; as, the provost of Edinburgh or of Glasgow, answering to the mayor of other cities; the provost of a college, answering to president; the provost or head of certain collegiate churches.
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The keeper of a prison. [Obs.] --Shak. Note: In France, formerly, a provost was an inferior judge who had cognizance of civil causes. The grand provost of France, or of the household, had jurisdiction in the king's house, and over its officers. Provost marshal (often pronounced ?).
(Mil.) An officer appointed in every army, in the field, to secure the prisoners confined on charges of a general nature. He also performs such other duties pertaining to police and discipline as the regulations of the service or the commander's orders impose upon him.
(Nav.) An officer who has charge of prisoners on trial by court-martial, serves notices to witnesses, etc.
WordNet
n. the supervisor of the military police
Wikipedia
A provost marshal is a title given to a person in charge of a group of military police (MP). The title originated with an older term for military police, provosts. While a provost marshal is now usually a senior commissioned officer, he/she may be a person of any rank, who commands any number of MPs; historically, the title was sometimes applied to civilian officials, especially under conditions of martial law, or when a military force had day-to-day responsibility for some or all aspects of civilian law enforcement (such as some British colonies). A Provost marshal may also oversee security services, imprisonment, fire/ emergency services and ambulances.
Usage examples of "provost marshal".
Before that the corporal had to hand over responsibility for his prisoner to the Lion's Marine lieutenant, who would act as provost marshal.
Ayres has screamed his head off to the Provost Marshal and the Provost Marshal has screamed to the General that the authority of the provost must not be undermined.
The provost marshal, a portable stitching-gun under one arm, was directing Horsip's staff as they turned their desks into a barricade.
Division's provost marshal let him sleep for eight hours before questioning him.
An army provost marshal seldom heeded and never appreciated helpful hints from the Justice Department.
The provost marshal, I don't know what's got him so hot on this, but from what I saw this morning, he's going to be coming after you.
Later he got a sticker from the provost marshal and drove to the barracks.
But the guard had let him park the LaSalle inside the gate and had explained to McCoy that he could get a sticker on Saturday morning from the provost marshal if he got there before noon with proof of insurance and license plates.
He didn't have a home number to call Hera at, and the summons waiting at Huber's billets to see the Provost Marshal at 0600 precluded Huber from waiting to meet Hera when she arrived at office.
The brigadier general then called in the post provost marshal, who drove Canidy and Baker to the station hospital in a Chevrolet sedan with a chrome siren on the fender.