Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One of the ten primitive subdivisions of a tribe in early Rome, consisting of ten gentes.
  • noun The assembly place of such a subdivision.
  • noun The Roman senate or any of the various buildings in which it met in republican Rome.
  • noun The place of assembly of high councils in various Italian cities under Roman administration.
  • noun The ensemble of central administrative and governmental services in imperial Rome.
  • noun Roman Catholic Church The central administration governing the Church.
  • noun A medieval assembly or council.
  • noun A medieval royal court of justice.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Roman antiquity: One of the divisions of the citizens of Rome, with reference to locality. The number of the curiæ is given as thirty, but the original number was smaller.
  • noun The building in which a curia met for worship or public deliberation. The building in which the senate held its deliberations. A title given to the senate of any one of the Italian cities, as distinguished from the Roman senate.
  • noun In medieval legal use, a court, either judicial, administrative, or legislative; a court of justice.
  • noun Specifically, in modern use, the court of the papal see.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of the thirty parts into which the Roman people were divided by Romulus.
  • noun The place of assembly of one of these divisions.
  • noun The place where the meetings of the senate were held; the senate house.
  • noun (Middle Ages) The court of a sovereign or of a feudal lord; also; his residence or his household.
  • noun (Law) Any court of justice.
  • noun The Roman See in its temporal aspects, including all the machinery of administration; -- called also curia Romana.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical Any of the subdivisions of a tribe in ancient Rome
  • noun historical The Roman senate during the republic
  • noun historical Any of several medieval councils or courts of justice

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Roman Catholic Church) the central administration governing the Roman Catholic Church

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin cūria, council, curia; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from Latin curia.

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Examples

  • He not only has his sins pardoned, and is furnished with grace sufficient for himself, but, as rectus in curia -- acquitted in court, he is restored to his former honours and trusts.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

  • They are recti in curia -- right in court; no sin that ever they have been guilty of shall come against them, to condemn them.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation) 1721

  • And as such the Jews were shy of conversing with him, and expected Christ should be so; but he shows that, being a true penitent, he is become rectus in curia -- upright in court, as good a son of Abraham as if he had never been an publican, which therefore ought not to be mentioned against him.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721

  • At this time, basically all the cardinals and bishops, the senior positions in the curia, which is basically the government of the Vatican if you will, basically lose their jobs including the all-powerful secretary of state, number two until a few moments ago in the Vatican.

    CNN Transcript Apr 2, 2005 2005

  • GALLAGHER: Well, the highest levels, of course, being in the curia, which is the Vatican administration.

    CNN Transcript Oct 6, 2002 2002

  • The court of the king, usually known as the curia regis, consisting as it did of magnates, royal vassals, and court officials (mainly chosen from the baronage), was essentially feudal in spirit and tradition.

    c. France 2001

  • The greatest interest of the Archbishop and the curia was their supremacy, which was acquired and maintained by such commercial dealings.

    The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 Various

  • Nor should it be in the opposite process, which was equally easy, as when the Saxon chronicler, led by the superficial resemblance and overlooking the great institutional difference, called the curia of William by the Saxon name of witenagemot.

    The History of England from the Norman Conquest to the Death of John (1066-1216) George Burton Adams 1888

  • The _Comitia Centuriata_ elected the magistrates and made laws, and formed the highest court of appeal, but all its decisions had to be sanctioned by the curiae, although in course of time the curia was a formality.

    The Old Roman World, : the Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization. John Lord 1852

  • He is at present an escaped prisoner, the law has an awkward claim upon him; he must be placed rectus in curia, that is the first object; for which purpose, Colonel, I will accompany you in your carriage down to Hazlewood House.

    Guy Mannering 1815

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