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irs; a general council; esp., an assembly of representatives of a nation or people having authority to make laws. They made request that it might be lawful for them to summon a parliament of Gauls. Golding.

Of or pertaining to Parliament; as, parliamentary authority. Bacon.

has not a particle of patriotism or virtue. The houses had not given their commissioners authority in the least particle to recede. Clarendon.

Appropriated or protected by letters patent; secured by official authority to the exclusive possession, control, and disposal of some person or party; patented; as, a patent right; patent medicines. Madder . . . in King Charles the First's time, was made a patent commodity. Mortimer.

to a patriarch or to patriarchs; possessed by, or subject to, patriarchs; as, patriarchal authority or jurisdiction; a patriarchal see; a patriarchal church.

One who loves his country, and zealously supports its authority and interests. Bp. Hall. Such tears as patriots shaed for dying laws. Pope.

A step; a degree; esp. in the slang phrase "To take one down peg." To screw papal authority to the highest peg. Barrow. And took your grandess down a peg. Hudibras. Peg ladder, a ladder with but one standard, into which cross pieces are inserted. -- Peg tankard, an ancient tankard marked with pegs, so as divide the li…

ission; specifically, a written license or permission given to a person or persons having authority; as, a permit to land goods subject to duty.

or formal kind; a prayer to the Supreme Being, or to a person of superior power, rank, or authority; also, a single clause in such a prayer. A house of prayer and petition for thy people. 1 Macc. vii. 37. This last petition heard of all her prayer. Dryden.

e drugs, preparations, etc., used in medicine; especially, one that is issued by official authority and considered as an authoritative standard.

Specifically, a person duly qualified, and licensed by authority, to conduct vessels into and out of a port, or in certain waters, for a fixed rate of fees.

seas; the taking of property from others on the open sea by open violence; without lawful authority, and with intent to steal; -- a crime answering to robbery on land.

A public proclamation; a manifesto or edict issued by authority. [Obs.] All placards or edicts are published in his name. Howell.

Full; entire; complete; absolute; as, a plenary license; plenary authority. A treatise on a subject should be plenary or full. I. Watts. Plenary indulgence (R. C. Ch.), an entire remission of temporal punishment due to, or canonical penance for, all sins. -- Plenary inspiration. (Theol.) See under Inspiration.…

Of or pertaining to a pontiff, or high priest; as, pontifical authority; hence, belonging to the pope; papal.

Having great authority, control, or dominion; puissant; mighty; influential; as, a potent prince. "A potent dukedom." Shak. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors. Shak.

An inclosure, maintained by public authority, in which cattle or other animals are confined when taken in trespassing, or when going at large in violation of law; a pinfold. Shak.

The agent exercising an ability to act; an individual invested with authority; an institution, or government, which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence, often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity. "The powers of darkness." Milton. And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Matt. xxiv. 29.…

The offense of introducing foreign authority into England, the penalties for which were originally intended to depress the civil power of the pope in the kingdom.

cision which serves as a rule for future determinations in similar or analogous cases; an authority to be followed in courts of justice; forms of proceeding to be followed in similar cases. Wharton.