[par.lia.ment] n [ME, fr. OF parlement, fr. parler] (13c) 1: a formal conference for the discussion of public affairs; specif: a council of state in early medieval England
2. a: an assemblage of the nobility, clergy, and commons called together by the British sovereign as the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom b: a similar assemblage in another nation or state 3 a: the supreme legislative body of a usu. major political unit that is a continuing institution comprising a series of individual assemblages b: the British House of Commons
4: one of several principal courts of justice existing in France before the revolution of 1789