Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Occurring every seven years.
- adjective Consisting of or continuing for seven years.
- noun An event that occurs every seven years.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Lasting or continuing seven years: as, septennial parliaments.
- Occurring or returning once in every seven years: as, septennial elections.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Lasting or continuing seven years.
- adjective Happening or returning once in every seven years.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Lasting or continuing
seven years; as, septennial parliaments. - adjective Happening or returning once in every seven years; as, septennial elections in England.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Elections had become a cheerful formality, a septennial folly, an ancient unmeaning custom; a social Parliament as ineffectual as the convocation of the Established Church in
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Yet candour will own that to the same parliament every Englishman is deeply indebted: the septennial act, so vicious in its origin, has been sanctioned by time, experience, and the national consent.
Memoirs of My Life and Writings Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794 1994
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The first parliament of George the First had been chosen (1715) for three years: the term had elapsed, their trust was expired; and the four additional years (1718-1722), during which they continued to sit, were derived not from the people, but from themselves; from the strong measure of the septennial bill, which can only be paralleled by il serar di consiglio of the Venetian history.
Memoirs of My Life and Writings Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794 1994
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Portreeve existed side by side, and down to the year 1790 the latter exercised the power of summoning certain people to attend the septennial perambulation of the Town Lake -- a stream of water the property of the inhabitants.
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Few women are so happy as to meet with _five good husbands_, and therefore I should be glad to devote the remaining part of my life to the good of my country and family, in a more public and active station than that of a _wife_, according to your late scheme for _a septennial administration of women_.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 Various
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Canada, where, for many years, elections were not likely to be attended with the consequences which ministers dreaded, he could not conceive why they should make such assemblies, not annual or triennial, but septennial.
The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Volume 1 Charles Roger
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In the month of September, although parliament had more than a year to complete its septennial term, it was dissolved by proclamation, and writs issued for a new one.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. From George III. to Victoria Edward Farr
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The witnesses (in capital cases) were questioned on seven points, as follows: -- In what Shemitah (or septennial cycle) did it occur?
Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala Various
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Even in England, he said, where the frequent return of elections was attended with great inconvenience, the propriety of the septennial bill might justly be doubted.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. From George III. to Victoria Edward Farr
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He concluded by stating that the act for septennial parliaments must be repealed, and by proclaiming himself a convert to triennial parliaments.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. From George III. to Victoria Edward Farr
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