Prov"ince (?), n. [F., fr. L. provincia; prob. fr. pro before, for + the root of vincere to conquer. See Victor.] 1. Roman Hist. 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.
Wyclif (Acts xiii. 34). Milton.
2. A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital. "Kingdoms and provinces."
Shak.
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.
© Webster 1913. | 
