- An assembly or council having the highest deliberative and
legislative functions. - A body of elders appointed or elected from among the nobles
of the nation, and having supreme legislative authority. - The upper and less numerous branch of a legislature in
various countries, as in France, in the United States, in most of the
separate States of the United States, and in some Swiss cantons. - In general, a legislative body; a state council; the
legislative department of government. - The governing body of the Universities of Cambridge and
London. - In some American colleges, a council of elected students,
presided over by the president of the college, to which are referred
cases of discipline and matters of general concern affecting the
students.