Parliament
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈpÉ‘ËlÉ™mÉ™nt/
- US IPA: /ˈpɑɹləmənt/
Origin
From Medieval Latin parlamentum and its sources, Anglo-Norman and Old French parlement ("discussion, meeting, assembly, council"), from parler ("to speak"), and -ment ("mind").
Full definition of parliament
Noun
parliament
(plural parliaments)- An institution whose elected or appointed members meet to debate the major political issues of the day and usually to exercise legislative powers and sometimes judicial powers.
- 2011, December 14, Angelique Chrisafis, Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism, The row started over who will run for parliament in a wealthy rightwing constituency on the left bank in Paris, a safe seat for Sarkozy's ruling UMP. Dati is already a local mayor in the neighbourhood, a job felt to have been handed to her on a plate when she was a Sarkozy favourite. She has since fallen from grace, and when she left government she took a European parliament seat, considered a consolation prize.
- A collective noun for a flock of owls or rooks.
- (historical) Parliament cake; a type of gingerbread.
- 1869, RD Blackmoore, Lorna Doone, Chapter II:A certain boy leaning up against me would not allow my elbow room, and struck me very sadly in the stomach part, though his own was full of my parliament.