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legate - 5 dictionary results
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leg⋅ate

  [leg-it]
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–noun
1. an ecclesiastic delegated by the pope as his representative.
2. Roman History.
a. an assistant to a general or to a consul or magistrate, in the government of any army or a province; a commander of a legion.
b. a provincial governor of senatorial rank appointed by the emperor.
3. an envoy or emissary.
Origin:
1125–75; ME legat < L lēgātus deputy (n. use of masc. ptp. of lēgāre to depute), equiv. to lēgā(re) + -tus ptp. suffix

Related forms:
leg⋅ate⋅ship, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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leg·ate   (lěg'ĭt)   
n.   Abbr. leg.
An official emissary, especially an official representative of the pope.

[Middle English, from Old French legat, from Medieval Latin lēgātus, from Latin, past participle of lēgāre, to depute; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]
leg'ate·ship' n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Legate

Leg"ate\ (l[e^]g"[asl]t), n. [OE. legat, L. legatus, fr. legare to send with a commission or charge, to depute, fr. lex, legis, law: cf. F. l['e]gat, It. legato. See Legal.]

1. An ambassador or envoy.

2. An ecclesiastic representing the pope and invested with the authority of the Holy See.

Note: Legates are of three kinds: (a) Legates a latere, now always cardinals. They are called ordinary or extraordinary legates, the former governing provinces, and the latter class being sent to foreign countries on extraordinary occasions. (b) Legati missi, who correspond to the ambassadors of temporal governments. (c) Legati nati, or legates by virtue of their office, as the archbishops of Salzburg and Prague.

3. (Rom. Hist.) (a) An official assistant given to a general or to the governor of a province. (b) Under the emperors, a governor sent to a province.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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legate 
1154, "authorized representative of the Pope," from L. legatus, originally "provided with a commission," pp. of legare "send as a deputy, send with a commission, bequeath," from lex (gen. legis) "contract, law." General sense of "ambassador, delegate, messenger" is from 1382.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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legate

official who acted as a deputy general to governors of provinces conquered by ancient Rome in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, during the period of the republic. In the latter part of the 1st century BC, Julius Caesar initiated the practice of appointing legates to command legions in the army. This practice became customary under the emperor Augustus (27 BC-AD 14). Under the early empire, in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, a province containing one or more legions was governed by a military commander with the title legatus Augusti pro praetore (propraetorian legate of the emperor).

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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