congress

plural congresses

1. countableuncountableA formal gathering or assembly of persons; a conference held to discuss or decide on a specific question.
2. capitalizedcountableoftenuncountableA legislative body of a state, originally the bicameral legislature of the United States of America.

   Republicans have their own high stakes in November. Losing control of Congress, they say, could mean a highly politicized impeachment of their president.

   2018 January 27, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Nicholas Fandos, “As Gridlock Deepens in Congress, Only Gloom Is Bipartisan”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: assembly, legislature, parliament

3. countableuncountableAn association, especially one consisting of other associations or representatives of interest groups.

   Near-synonyms: federation, confederation

   1 more example

   the National Congress of American Indians

   Synonyms: federation, confederation

4. countabledateduncountableCoitus: sexual intercourse.

   Not three weeks before this he was run out of Fort Smith Arkansas for having congress with a goat. Yes lady, that is what I said. Goat.

   1985, Cormac McCarthy, chapter 1, in Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC

   1 more example

   Welsh ponies, I learn from a man who has had much experience with these animals, habitually produce erections and emissions in their stalls; they do not bring their hind quarters up during this process, and they close their eyes, which does not take place when they have congress with mares.

   1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 (of 6)

   Synonyms: sexual congress

5. archaiccountableuncountableA coming together of two or more people; a meeting.

   After some little repast, he went to see Democritus[…]. The multitude stood gazing round about to see the congress.

   1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York: New York Review Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 48

6. collectivecountablerareA group of baboons.

   2013, Dick Hrebik, Walter Goes to War—WWII, Rolling Meadows, IL: Windy City Publishers, Chapter 7, p. 133, Saw a congress of baboons of all sizes making their way to a mountaintop to spend the night on the rocks and trees there.

   2 more examples

   […] the council hall stank like a congress of baboons.

   1966, Philip José Farmer, “Riverworld”, in Down in the Black Gang and Others, Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, published 1971, page 79

   On any given day as we drove through the bush in our Land Cruisers we saw: huge herds of cape buffalos; a journey of giraffes; thousands of wildebeest; a dazzle of zebras; gazelle and antelope of every size, shape, and color; large families of elephants-ranging from old bulls to teenagers; a cash of rhinos; a raft of hippopotami; large congresses of baboons; an occasional leap of leopards; and twenty-foot-long crocodiles that seem to be part of our prehistoric past.

   2011, Al Gini, Seeking the Truth of Things, ACTA Publications

   Synonyms: flange

present singular third person congresses · participle present congressing · participle past congressed · past congressed

1. intransitiveTo assemble together.

   Synonyms: congregate

2. To meet in a congress.

1. USgovernmentThe two legislative bodies of the United States: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

   He pitched his budget proposal to Congress.

   1 more example

   The bill was stewarded through Congress to the President.

2. PhilippinegovernmentThe legislature of the Philippines.
   1. Philippinemore specificallygovernmentThe House of Representatives of the Philippines.
3. IndiaabbreviationclippingIndian politicsClipping of Indian National Congress

1. A census-designated place in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States.

   Synonyms: Capitol Hill

2. A village in Wayne County, Ohio, United States.
3. A hamlet in the Rural Municipality of Stonehenge, No. 73, Saskatchewan, Canada.

plural Congresses

1. USA two-year session of the Congress, commencing after a Federal election and ending before the next one.

   Two regular sessions of our federal legislative body are called a Congress, and Congresses have been numbered consecutively since the first one met in 1789. The first two sessions were called the first Congress; […]

   1946, Emil F. Faith, Richard Gibbs Browne, Our Civic Life and Progress, Mentzer, Bush & Company, page 248