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province

1. 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.

2. A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, especially. One remote from the capital. Kingdoms and provinces.

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.

Origin: F, fr. L. Provincia; prob. Fr. Pro before, for _ the root of vincere to conquer. See Victor.