parliament

Plural

parliaments

1. 1.In many countries, the legislative branch of government, a deliberative assembly or set of assemblies whose elected or appointed members meet to debate the major political issues of the day, make, amend, and repeal laws, authorize the executive branch of government to collect and spend money, and in some cases exercise judicial powers; a legislature.

   • 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.

2. 2.A gathering of birds, especially rooks or owls.

   • A group of owls is called a parliament.
   • He'd seen a parliament of rooks a hundred strong fall on and kill one of their number amongst the nodding barley rows, and had been shown a yew that had the face of Jesus in its bark.

3. 3.A particular assembly of the members of such a legislature, as convened for a specific purpose or period of time (commonly designated with an ordinal number – for example, first parliament or 12th parliament – or a descriptive adjective – for example, Long Parliament, Short Parliament and Rump Parliament).

   • Following the general election, Jane Doe took her oath of office as a member of the nation's fifth parliament.

4. 4.a length of time for which a parliament is summoned, in modern times therefore the period between two consecutive elections.

   • This parliament has been more scandal-filled than any other in history.

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