Definitions for: Faculty


[n] one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind
[n] the body of teachers and administrators at a school; "the dean addressed the letter to the entire staff of the university"



Webster (1913) Definition: Fac"ul*ty, n.; pl. Faculties. [F. facult?, L.
facultas, fr. facilis easy (cf. facul easily), fr. fecere to
make. See Fact, and cf. Facility.]
1. Ability to act or perform, whether inborn or cultivated;
capacity for any natural function; especially, an original
mental power or capacity for any of the well-known classes
of mental activity; psychical or soul capacity; capacity
for any of the leading kinds of soul activity, as
knowledge, feeling, volition; intellectual endowment or
gift; power; as, faculties of the mind or the soul.

But know that in the soul Are many lesser faculties
that serve Reason as chief. --Milton.

What a piece of work is a man ! how noble in reason
! how infinite in faculty ! --Shak.

2. Special mental endowment; characteristic knack.

He had a ready faculty, indeed, of escaping from any
topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous
temperament. --Hawthorne.

3. Power; prerogative or attribute of office. [R.]

This Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek.
--Shak.

4. Privilege or permission, granted by favor or indulgence,
to do a particular thing; authority; license;
dispensation.

The pope . . . granted him a faculty to set him free
from his promise. --Fuller.

It had not only faculty to inspect all bishops'
dioceses, but to change what laws and statutes they
should think fit to alter among the colleges.
--Evelyn.

5. A body of a men to whom any specific right or privilege is
granted; formerly, the graduates in any of the four
departments of a university or college (Philosophy, Law,
Medicine, or Theology), to whom was granted the right of
teaching (profitendi or docendi) in the department in
which they had studied; at present, the members of a
profession itself; as, the medical faculty; the legal
faculty, ect.

6. (Amer. Colleges) The body of person to whom are intrusted
the government and instruction of a college or university,
or of one of its departments; the president, professors,
and tutors in a college.

Dean of faculty. See under Dean.

Faculty of advocates. (Scot.) See under Advocate.

Syn: Talent; gift; endowment; dexterity; expertness;
cleverness; readiness; ability; knack.

Synonyms: mental faculty, module, staff

See Also: ability, attention, body, intellect, language, memory, power, professor, reason, retention, retentiveness, school, sensation, sense, sensory faculty, sentience, sentiency, speech, understanding, volition, will

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