Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Convention?

\Con*ven"tion\, n. [L. conventio: cf. F. convention. See {Convene}, v. i.] 1. The act of coming together; the state of being together; union; coalition. The conventions or associations of several particles of matter into bodies of any certain denomination. --Boyle. 2. General agreement or concurrence; arbitrary custom; usage; conventionality. There are thousands now Such women, but convention beats them down. --Tennyson. 3. A meeting or an assembly of persons, esp. of delegates or representatives, to accomplish some specific object, -- civil, social, political, or ecclesiastical. He set himself to the making of good laws in a grand convention of his nobles. --Sir R. Baker. A convention of delegates from all the States, to meet in Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of reserving the federal system, and correcting its defects. --W. Irving. 4. (Eng. Hist) An extraordinary assembly of the parkiament or estates of the realm, held without the king's writ, -- as the assembly which restored Charles II. to the throne, and that which declared the throne to be abdicated by James II. Our gratitude is due . . . to the Long Parliament, to the Convention, and to William of Orange. --Macaulay. 5. An agreement or contract less formal than, or preliminary to, a treaty; an informal compact, as between commanders of armies in respect to suspension of hostilities, or between states; also, a formal agreement between governments or sovereign powers; as, a postal convention between two governments. This convention, I think from my soul, is nothing but a stipulation for national ignominy; a truce without a suspension of hostilities. --Ld. Chatham. The convention with the State of Georgia has been ratified by their Legislature. --T. Jefferson.