Election
(E*lec"tion) n. [F. élection, L. electio, fr. eligere to choose out. See Elect, a.]
1. The act of choosing; choice; selection.
2. The act of choosing a person to fill an office, or to membership in a society, as by ballot, uplifted
hands, or viva voce; as, the election of a president or a mayor.
Corruption in elections is the great enemy of freedom.
J. Adams. 3. Power of choosing; free will; liberty to choose or act. "By his own election led to ill." Daniel.
4. Discriminating choice; discernment. [Obs.]
To use men with much difference and election is good.
Bacon. 5. (Theol.) Divine choice; predestination of individuals as objects of mercy and salvation; — one of the
"five points" of Calvinism.
There is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Rom. xi. 5. 6. (Law) The choice, made by a party, of two alternatives, by taking one of which, the chooser is excluded
from the other.
7. Those who are elected. [Obs.]
The election hath obtained it.
Rom. xi. 7. To contest an election. See under Contest. — To make one's election, to choose.
He has made his election to walk, in the main, in the old paths.
Fitzed. Hall. Electioneer
(E*lec`tion*eer") v. i. [imp. & p. p. Electionered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Electioneering.] To
make interest for a candidate at an election; to use arts for securing the election of a candidate.
A master of the whole art of electioneering.
Macaulay. Electioneerer
(E*lec`tion*eer"er) n. One who electioneers.
Elective
(E*lect"ive) a. [Cf. F. électif.]
1. Exerting the power of choice; selecting; as, an elective act.
2. Pertaining to, or consisting in, choice, or right of choosing; electoral.
The independent use of their elective franchise.
Bancroft. 3. Dependent on choice; bestowed or passing by election; as, an elective study; an elective office.
Kings of Rome were at first elective; . . . for such are the conditions of an elective kingdom.
Dryden. Elective affinity or attraction (Chem.), a tendency to unite with certain things; chemism.
Elective
(E*lect"ive), n. In an American college, an optional study or course of study. [Colloq.]
Electively
(E*lect"ive*ly), adv. In an elective manner; by choice.
Elector
(E*lect"or) n. [L., fr. eligere: cf. F. électeur.]
