consul
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈkɒn.səl/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈkɑn.səl/
Noun

consul (plural consuls)

  1. (historical) Either of the two heads of government and state of the Roman Republic or the equivalent nominal post under the Roman and Byzantine Empires.
  2. (historical) Any of the three heads of government and state of France between 1799 and 1804.
  3. (obsolete) A count or earl.
  4. (obsolete) A councillor, particularly:
    1. (historical) A member of early modern city councils in southern France and Catalonia.
    2. (historical) An officer of the trading and merchant companies of early modern England.
    3. (historical) An official in various early modern port and trading towns, elected by resident foreign merchants to settle disputes among themselves and to represent them to the local authorities.
  5. (by extension) An official residing in major foreign towns to represent and protect the interests of the merchants and citizens of his or her country.
  6. (obsolete) A counsellor.
    • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii], page 312 ↗, column 1:
      And many of the Conſuls, rais'd and met,
      Are at the Dukes already.
    • 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], OCLC 1006139495 ↗, Iob 3:14, page 1065 ↗:
      With kinges and conſules of the earth, which build themſelves ſolitarie places:
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