To·jo (t??j??), Hideki Originally Tojo Eiki. 1884-1948. Japanese army officer and prime minister of Japan (1941-1944) who ruled as a dictator during World War II and was executed as a war criminal.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.