Prov"ince (?), n. [F., fr. L. provincia; prob. fr. pro before, for + the root of vincere to conquer. See Victor.]

1. Roman Hist.

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.

Wyclif (Acts xiii. 34). Milton.

2.

A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital.

"Kingdoms and provinces."

Shak.

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.

 

© Webster 1913.

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