Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Chih hsien \Chih" hsien`\ [Chin. chih hsien, lit., (He who)
   knows (the) district.]
   An official having charge of a hsien, or administrative
   district, in China; a district magistrate, responsible for
   good order in his hsien (which see), and having jurisdiction
   in its civil and criminal cases.