province definition

1. A country or region, more or less remote from the city of Rome, brought under the Roman government; a conquered country beyond the limits of Italy.

2. A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, especially. One remote from the capital. "Kingdoms and provinces."

3. A region of country; a tract; a district. "Over many a tract of heaven they marched, and many a province wide." (Milton) "Other provinces of the intellectual world." (I. Watts)

4. A region under the supervision or direction of any special person; the district or division of a country, especially an ecclesiastical division, over which one has jurisdiction; as, the province of Canterbury, or that in which the archbishop of Canterbury exercises ecclesiastical authority.

5. The proper or appropriate business or duty of a person or body; office; charge; jurisdiction; sphere. "The woman'sprovince is to be careful in her economy, and chaste in her affection." (Tattler)

6. Specif., Any political division of the Dominion of Canada, having a governor, a local legislature, and representation in the Dominion parliament. Hence, colloquially, The Provinces, the Dominion of Canada.

Origin: F, fr. L. Provincia; prob. Fr. Pro before, for + the root of vincere to conquer. See Victor.

(01 Mar 1998)