Executive

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Executive \Ex*ec"u*tive\, n.
     1. An impersonal title of the chief magistrate or officer who
        administers the government, whether king, president, or
        governor; the governing person or body.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. a person who has administrative authority over an
        organization or division of an organization; a manager,
        supervisor or administrator at a high level within an
        organization; as, all executives of the company were given
        stock options
        [PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Executive \Ex*ec"u*tive\, a. [Cf.F. ex['e]cutif.]
     1. Designed or fitted for execution, or carrying into effect;
        as, executive talent; qualifying for, concerned with, or
        pertaining to, the execution of the laws or the conduct of
        affairs; as, executive power or authority; executive
        duties, officer, department, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In government, executive is distinguished from
           {legislative} and {judicial}; {legislative} being
           applied to the organ or organs of government which make
           the laws; {judicial}, to that which interprets and
           applies the laws; executive, to that which carries them
           into effect or secures their due performance.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. of or pertaining to an executive[2] or to the group of
        executives within an organization; as, executive
        compensation increased more rapidly than wages in the
        1980's; the executive suite.
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  executive
       adj : having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.;
             "the executive branch"
       n 1: a person responsible for the administration of a business
            [syn: {executive director}]
       2: persons who administer the law
       3: someone who manages a government agency or department [syn:
          {administrator}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  92 Moby Thesaurus words for "executive":
     administrating, administration, administrative, administrator,
     archon, big cheese, board, board of directors, board of regents,
     board of trustees, boss, bureaucratic, businessman, businesswoman,
     cabinet, cadre, captain, castellan, chancellor, chatelain,
     chatelaine, chief executive, chief executive officer, commandant,
     commander, council, dean, directing, director, directorate,
     directorship, directory, entrepreneur, exec, executive arm,
     executive committee, executive director, executive hierarchy,
     executive officer, executive secretary, foreman, governing,
     governing board, governing body, government, governmental,
     governor, gubernatorial, head, infrastructure, intendant,
     interlocking directorate, kingpin, leader, leadership, magistrate,
     management, manager, managerial, managing, managing director,
     master, ministerial, number one, officer, official, officiating,
     overseer, prefect, president, presiding, prexy, principal, provost,
     regulatory, ruler, secretary, steering committee, superintendent,
     supervision, supervisor, supervisory, the administration,
     the brass, the executive, the people upstairs, top brass, top dog,
     treasurer, vice-chancellor, vice-president, warden
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  executive
       
           The {command interpreter} or {shell} for an
          {operating system}.  The term is used especially around
          {mainframes} and probably derived from {UNIVAC}'s archaic
          {EXEC 2} and current (in 2000) {EXEC 8} {operating systems}.
       
          (2000-08-06)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  EXECUTIVE, government. That power in the government which causes the laws to 
  be executed and obeyed: it is usually. confided to the hands of the chief 
  magistrate; the president of the United States is invested with this 
  authority under the national government; and the governor of each state has 
  the executive power in his hands. 
       2. The officer in whom is vested the executive power is also called the 
  executive. 
       3. The Constitution of the United States directs that "the executive 
  power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America." Art. 
  2, s. 1. Vide Story, Const. B. 3, c. 36. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  EXECUTIVE, n.  An officer of the Government, whose duty it is to
  enforce the wishes of the legislative power until such time as the
  judicial department shall be pleased to pronounce them invalid and of
  no effect.  Following is an extract from an old book entitled, _The
  Lunarian Astonished_ -- Pfeiffer & Co., Boston, 1803:
  
      LUNARIAN:  Then when your Congress has passed a law it goes
          directly to the Supreme Court in order that it may at once be
          known whether it is constitutional?
      TERRESTRIAN:  O no; it does not require the approval of the
          Supreme Court until having perhaps been enforced for many
          years somebody objects to its operation against himself -- I
          mean his client.  The President, if he approves it, begins to
          execute it at once.
      LUNARIAN:  Ah, the executive power is a part of the legislative. 
          Do your policemen also have to approve the local ordinances
          that they enforce?
      TERRESTRIAN:  Not yet -- at least not in their character of
          constables.  Generally speaking, though, all laws require the
          approval of those whom they are intended to restrain.
      LUNARIAN:  I see.  The death warrant is not valid until signed by
          the murderer.
      TERRESTRIAN:  My friend, you put it too strongly; we are not so
          consistent.
      LUNARIAN:  But this system of maintaining an expensive judicial
          machinery to pass upon the validity of laws only after they
          have long been executed, and then only when brought before the
          court by some private person -- does it not cause great
          confusion?
      TERRESTRIAN:  It does.
      LUNARIAN:  Why then should not your laws, previously to being
          executed, be validated, not by the signature of your
          President, but by that of the Chief Justice of the Supreme
          Court?
      TERRESTRIAN:  There is no precedent for any such course.
      LUNARIAN:  Precedent.  What is that?
      TERRESTRIAN:  It has been defined by five hundred lawyers in three
          volumes each.  So how can any one know?