Authorities

5 definitions found

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

  authorities \authorities\ n.
     1. the organization that is the governing authority of a
        political unit.
  
     Syn: government, regime.
          [WordNet 1.5]



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

  Authority \Au*thor"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Authorities}. [OE. autorite,
     auctorite, F. autorit['e], fr. L. auctoritas, fr. auctor. See
     {Author}, n.]
     1. Legal or rightful power; a right to command or to act;
        power exercised buy a person in virtue of his office or
        trust; dominion; jurisdiction; authorization; as, the
        authority of a prince over subjects, and of parents over
        children; the authority of a court.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thus can the demigod, Authority,
              Make us pay down for our offense.     --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              By what authority doest thou these things ? --Matt.
                                                    xxi. 23.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Government; the persons or the body exercising power or
        command; as, the local authorities of the States; the
        military authorities. [Chiefly in the plural.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The power derived from opinion, respect, or esteem;
        influence of character, office, or station, or mental or
        moral superiority, and the like; claim to be believed or
        obeyed; as, an historian of no authority; a magistrate of
        great authority.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. That which, or one who, is claimed or appealed to in
        support of opinions, actions, measures, etc. Hence:
        (a) Testimony; witness. "And on that high authority had
            believed." --Milton.
        (b) A precedent; a decision of a court, an official
            declaration, or an opinion, saying, or statement
            worthy to be taken as a precedent.
        (c) A book containing such a statement or opinion, or the
            author of the book.
        (d) Justification; warrant.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Wilt thou be glass wherein it shall discern
                  Authority for sin, warrant for blame. --Shak.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  authorities
       n : the organization that is the governing authority of a
           political unit; "the government reduced taxes"; "the
           matter was referred to higher authorities" [syn: {government},
            {regime}]

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

  29 Moby Thesaurus words for "authorities":
     John Bull, Uncle Sam, Washington, Whitehall, bureaucracy,
     directorate, hierarchy, higher echelons, higher-ups, management,
     ministry, officialdom, prelacy, ruling class, ruling classes,
     the Crown, the Establishment, the administration, the authorities,
     the government, the ingroup, the interests, the people upstairs,
     the power elite, the power structure, the top, them, they,
     top brass
  
  

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

  AUTHORITIES, practice. By this word is understood the citations which are
  made of laws, acts of the legislature, and decided cases, and opinions of
  elementary writers. In its more confined sense, this word means, cases
  decided upon solemn argument which are said to 'be authorities for similar
  judgments iii like cases. 1 Lilly's Reg. 219. These latter are sometimes
  called precedents. (q.v.) Merlin, Repertoire, mot Autorites.
       2. It has been remarked, that when we find an opinion in a text writer
  upon any particular point, we must consider it not merely as the opinion of
  the author, but as the supposed result of the authorities to which he
  refers; 3 Bos. & Pull. 361; but this is not always the case, and frequently
  the opinion is advanced with the reasons which support it, and it must stand
  or fall as these are or are not well founded. A distinction has been made
  between writers who have, and those who have not holden a judicial station;
  the former are considered authority, and the latter are not so considered
  unless their works have been judicially approved as such. Ram. on Judgments,
  93. But this distinction appears not to be well founded; some writers who
  have occupied a judicial station do not possess the talents or the learning
  of others who have not been so elevated, and the works or writings of the
  latter are much more deserving the character of an authority than those of
  the former. See 3 T. R. 4, 241.