- assembly
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/euh sem"blee/, n., pl. assemblies.1. an assembling or coming together of a number of persons, usually for a particular purpose: The principal will speak to all the students at Friday's assembly.2. a group of persons gathered together, usually for a particular purpose, whether religious, political, educational, or social.3. (often cap.) Govt. a legislative body, esp. the lower house of the legislature in certain states of the U.S.: a bill before the assembly; the New York State Assembly.4. Mil.a. a signal, as by drum or bugle, for troops to fall into ranks or otherwise assemble.b. the movement of forces, tanks, soldiers, etc., scattered by battle or battle drill, toward and into a small area.5. the putting together of complex machinery, as airplanes, from interchangeable parts of standard dimensions.6. Mach. a group of machine parts, esp. one forming a self-contained, independently mounted unit. Cf. subassembly.[1275-1325; ME assemblee < MF, lit., (that which is) assembled, fem. ptp. of assembler to ASSEMBLE]Syn. 1, 2. assemblage, gathering, congress, meeting. See convention. 2. throng. 3. congress, representatives.
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(as used in expressions)Gosudarstvennaya Duma State AssemblyGerman National Assembly* * *
deliberative council, usually legislative or juridical in purpose and power. The name has been given to various ancient and modern bodies, both political and ecclesiastical. It has been applied to relatively permanent bodies meeting periodically, such as the ancient Greek and Roman assemblies, the Germanic tribal assemblies, the French National Assembly, the legislative houses called assemblies in certain states of the United States, and the UN General Assembly. It has also been applied to groups sitting only for special purposes and for limited periods, such as the Westminster Assembly, which met in 1643 to draft a new constitution for the Church of England.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
