The sacred college

College \Col"lege\, n. [F. coll[`e]ge, L. collegium, fr. collega
   colleague. See {Colleague}.]
   1. A collection, body, or society of persons engaged in
      common pursuits, or having common duties and interests,
      and sometimes, by charter, peculiar rights and privileges;
      as, a college of heralds; a college of electors; a college
      of bishops.
      [1913 Webster]

            The college of the cardinals.         --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Then they made colleges of sufferers; persons who,
            to secure their inheritance in the world to come,
            did cut off all their portion in this. --Jer.
                                                  Taylor.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A society of scholars or friends of learning, incorporated
      for study or instruction, esp. in the higher branches of
      knowledge; as, the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge
      Universities, and many American colleges.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: In France and some other parts of continental Europe,
         college is used to include schools occupied with
         rudimentary studies, and receiving children as pupils.
         [1913 Webster]

   3. A building, or number of buildings, used by a college.
      "The gate of Trinity College." --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Fig.: A community. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Thick as the college of the bees in May. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   {College of justice}, a term applied in Scotland to the
      supreme civil courts and their principal officers.

   {The sacred college}, the college or cardinals at Rome.
      [1913 Webster]