faculty of advocates

Advocate \Ad"vo*cate\, n. [OE. avocat, avocet, OF. avocat, fr.
   L. advocatus, one summoned or called to another; properly the
   p. p. of advocare to call to, call to one's aid; ad + vocare
   to call. See {Advowee}, {Avowee}, {Vocal}.]
   1. One who pleads the cause of another. Specifically: One who
      pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial
      court; a counselor.
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   Note: In the English and American Law, advocate is the same
         as "counsel," "counselor," or "barrister." In the civil
         and ecclesiastical courts, the term signifies the same
         as "counsel" at the common law.
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   2. One who defends, vindicates, or espouses any cause by
      argument; a pleader; as, an advocate of free trade, an
      advocate of truth.
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   3. Christ, considered as an intercessor.
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            We have an Advocate with the Father.  --1 John ii.
                                                  1.
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   {Faculty of advocates} (Scot.), the Scottish bar in
      Edinburgh.

   {Lord advocate} (Scot.), the public prosecutor of crimes, and
      principal crown lawyer.

   {Judge advocate}. See under {Judge}.
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Faculty \Fac"ul*ty\, n.; pl. {Faculties}. [F. facult?, L.
   facultas, fr. facilis easy (cf. facul easily), fr. fecere to
   make. See {Fact}, and cf. {Facility}.]
   1. Ability to act or perform, whether inborn or cultivated;
      capacity for any natural function; especially, an original
      mental power or capacity for any of the well-known classes
      of mental activity; psychical or soul capacity; capacity
      for any of the leading kinds of soul activity, as
      knowledge, feeling, volition; intellectual endowment or
      gift; power; as, faculties of the mind or the soul.
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            But know that in the soul
            Are many lesser faculties that serve
            Reason as chief.                      --Milton.
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            What a piece of work is a man ! how noble in reason
            ! how infinite in faculty !           --Shak.
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   2. Special mental endowment; characteristic knack.
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            He had a ready faculty, indeed, of escaping from any
            topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous
            temperament.                          --Hawthorne.
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   3. Power; prerogative or attribute of office. [R.]
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            This Duncan
            Hath borne his faculties so meek.     --Shak.
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   4. Privilege or permission, granted by favor or indulgence,
      to do a particular thing; authority; license;
      dispensation.
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            The pope . . . granted him a faculty to set him free
            from his promise.                     --Fuller.
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            It had not only faculty to inspect all bishops'
            dioceses, but to change what laws and statutes they
            should think fit to alter among the colleges.
                                                  --Evelyn.
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   5. A body of a men to whom any specific right or privilege is
      granted; formerly, the graduates in any of the four
      departments of a university or college (Philosophy, Law,
      Medicine, or Theology), to whom was granted the right of
      teaching (profitendi or docendi) in the department in
      which they had studied; at present, the members of a
      profession itself; as, the medical faculty; the legal
      faculty, etc.
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   6. (Amer. Colleges) The body of person to whom are intrusted
      the government and instruction of a college or university,
      or of one of its departments; the president, professors,
      and tutors in a college.
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   {Dean of faculty}. See under {Dean}.

   {Faculty of advocates}. (Scot.) See under {Advocate}.

   Syn: Talent; gift; endowment; dexterity; expertness;
        cleverness; readiness; ability; knack.
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