mag·is·trate

[maj-uh-streyt, -strit]
noun
1.
a civil officer charged with the administration of the law.
2.
a minor judicial officer, as a justice of the peace or the judge of a police court, having jurisdiction to try minor criminal cases and to conduct preliminary examinations of persons charged with serious crimes.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English magistrat < Latin magistrātus magistracy, magistrate, equivalent to magist(e)r master + -ātus -ate3

mag·is·trate·ship, noun

magisterial, magistrate, majestic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
magistrate (ˈmædʒɪˌstreɪt, -strɪt) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a public officer concerned with the administration of lawRelated: magisterial
2.  another name for justice of the peace
3.  (NZ) the former name for district court judge
 
Related: magisterial
 
[C17: from Latin magistrātus, from magister master]
 
'magistrateship
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Magistrate is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

magistrate
late 14c., "civil officer in charge of administering laws," from O.Fr. magistrat, from L. magistratus "a magistrate," originally "magisterial rank or office," from magistrare "serve as a magistrate," from magister "chief, director" (see master).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Easton
Bible Dictionary

Magistrate definition


a public civil officer invested with authority. The Hebrew shophetim, or judges, were magistrates having authority in the land (Deut. 1:16, 17). In Judg. 18:7 the word "magistrate" (A.V.) is rendered in the Revised Version "possessing authority", i.e., having power to do them harm by invasion. In the time of Ezra (9:2) and Nehemiah (2:16; 4:14; 13:11) the Jewish magistrates were called _seganim_, properly meaning "nobles." In the New Testament the Greek word _archon_, rendered "magistrate" (Luke 12:58; Titus 3:1), means one first in power, and hence a prince, as in Matt. 20:25, 1 Cor. 2:6, 8. This term is used of the Messiah, "Prince of the kings of the earth" (Rev. 1:5). In Acts 16:20, 22, 35, 36, 38, the Greek term _strategos_, rendered "magistrate," properly signifies the leader of an army, a general, one having military authority. The _strategoi_ were the duumviri, the two praetors appointed to preside over the administration of justice in the colonies of the Romans. They were attended by the sergeants (properly lictors or "rod bearers").

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Example sentences
For as the law is set over the magistrate, even so are the magistrates set over
  the people.
The magistrate initially denied the case and its facts.
While he spoke the magistrate would look at the ceiling.
When he first went to court to tell the magistrate he was alive, his cousins
  beat him.
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