executive
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
executive
adj 1: having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.;
"the executive branch"
n 1: a person responsible for the administration of a business
[syn: {executive}, {executive director}]
2: persons who administer the law
3: someone who manages a government agency or department [syn:
{administrator}, {executive}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Executive \Ex*ec"u*tive\, n.
1. An impersonal title of the chief magistrate or officer who
administers the government, whether king, president, or
governor; the governing person or body.
[1913 Webster]
2. a person who has administrative authority over an
organization or division of an organization; a manager,
supervisor or administrator at a high level within an
organization; as, all executives of the company were given
stock options
[PJC]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Executive \Ex*ec"u*tive\, a. [Cf.F. ex['e]cutif.]
1. Designed or fitted for execution, or carrying into effect;
as, executive talent; qualifying for, concerned with, or
pertaining to, the execution of the laws or the conduct of
affairs; as, executive power or authority; executive
duties, officer, department, etc.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In government, executive is distinguished from
{legislative} and {judicial}; {legislative} being
applied to the organ or organs of government which make
the laws; {judicial}, to that which interprets and
applies the laws; executive, to that which carries them
into effect or secures their due performance.
[1913 Webster]
2. of or pertaining to an executive[2] or to the group of
executives within an organization; as, executive
compensation increased more rapidly than wages in the
1980's; the executive suite.
[PJC]
from
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906)
EXECUTIVE, n. An officer of the Government, whose duty it is to
enforce the wishes of the legislative power until such time as the
judicial department shall be pleased to pronounce them invalid and of
no effect. Following is an extract from an old book entitled, _The
Lunarian Astonished_ -- Pfeiffer & Co., Boston, 1803:
LUNARIAN: Then when your Congress has passed a law it goes
directly to the Supreme Court in order that it may at once be
known whether it is constitutional?
TERRESTRIAN: O no; it does not require the approval of the
Supreme Court until having perhaps been enforced for many
years somebody objects to its operation against himself -- I
mean his client. The President, if he approves it, begins to
execute it at once.
LUNARIAN: Ah, the executive power is a part of the legislative.
Do your policemen also have to approve the local ordinances
that they enforce?
TERRESTRIAN: Not yet -- at least not in their character of
constables. Generally speaking, though, all laws require the
approval of those whom they are intended to restrain.
LUNARIAN: I see. The death warrant is not valid until signed by
the murderer.
TERRESTRIAN: My friend, you put it too strongly; we are not so
consistent.
LUNARIAN: But this system of maintaining an expensive judicial
machinery to pass upon the validity of laws only after they
have long been executed, and then only when brought before the
court by some private person -- does it not cause great
confusion?
TERRESTRIAN: It does.
LUNARIAN: Why then should not your laws, previously to being
executed, be validated, not by the signature of your
President, but by that of the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court?
TERRESTRIAN: There is no precedent for any such course.
LUNARIAN: Precedent. What is that?
TERRESTRIAN: It has been defined by five hundred lawyers in three
volumes each. So how can any one know?
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
EXECUTIVE, government. That power in the government which causes the laws to
be executed and obeyed: it is usually. confided to the hands of the chief
magistrate; the president of the United States is invested with this
authority under the national government; and the governor of each state has
the executive power in his hands.
2. The officer in whom is vested the executive power is also called the
executive.
3. The Constitution of the United States directs that "the executive
power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America." Art.
2, s. 1. Vide Story, Const. B. 3, c. 36.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
92 Moby Thesaurus words for "executive":
administrating, administration, administrative, administrator,
archon, big cheese, board, board of directors, board of regents,
board of trustees, boss, bureaucratic, businessman, businesswoman,
cabinet, cadre, captain, castellan, chancellor, chatelain,
chatelaine, chief executive, chief executive officer, commandant,
commander, council, dean, directing, director, directorate,
directorship, directory, entrepreneur, exec, executive arm,
executive committee, executive director, executive hierarchy,
executive officer, executive secretary, foreman, governing,
governing board, governing body, government, governmental,
governor, gubernatorial, head, infrastructure, intendant,
interlocking directorate, kingpin, leader, leadership, magistrate,
management, manager, managerial, managing, managing director,
master, ministerial, number one, officer, official, officiating,
overseer, prefect, president, presiding, prexy, principal, provost,
regulatory, ruler, secretary, steering committee, superintendent,
supervision, supervisor, supervisory, the administration,
the brass, the executive, the people upstairs, top brass, top dog,
treasurer, vice-chancellor, vice-president, warden
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