parliamentaryadj.n.
/ˌpɑːləˈmɛnt(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˌpɑrləˈmɛnt(ə)ri/, /ˌpɑrləˈmɛnəri/ A. adj.† 2. Of or relating to the Parliament of Paris (see parliament n.1 5a). Obsolete. rare.
1.
a. Enacted, ratified, or established by Parliament or a parliament.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > English or British parliament > [adjective] > enacted or established by parliament
parliamentary1616
1616 A. Champney Treat. Vocation Bishops 161 Not onlie this parlementarie fashion of ordination but the verie order of Bishops it selfe.
1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 12 To the Three first Titles..were added two more; the Authorities Parliamentarie and Papall.
1745 Remarks Reign William III in Select. Harleian Misc. III. 345/2 Thus the Prince of Orange..mounted the Imperial Throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by a Parliamentary Title.
1772 J. Priestley Inst. Relig. I. Ded. p. x Chearfully pay all parliamentary taxes.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xvii. 106 To obtain a Parliamentary ratification of the treaty.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 518/2 He was raised to the peerage,..received a parliamentary grant of £25,000, the freedom of the city of London, and a sword of honour.
1992 J. L. Esposito Islamic Threat iv. 115 A committee of clerical experts in Islamic law who determined whether or not parliamentary laws were Islamically acceptable.
b. Consistent with or appropriate for the practice of Parliament; in accordance with a parliamentary constitution.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > government by the people or their delegates > [adjective] > consonant with parliamentary system
parliamentary1623
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [adjective]
parliamentary1623
1623 N. Ferrar Diary 5 Mar. in D. R. Ransome 17th-cent. Polit. & Financial Papers (1996) i. 64 Itt was not the Parlyamentary waie that the Lords should propound to us any thinge of this nature.
1625 in S. R. Gardiner Deb. House of Commons (1873) 94 His Majestie promis'd a more particular, and, as I may terme it, a more Parliamentary answere, article to article.
1656 in T. Burton Diary (1828) I. 206 It is not parliamentary, under colour of a petition, to bring in a Bill.
1710 T. Nairne Let. from S. Carolina 23 All Bills generally begin, and are form'd in the House of Commons, but no Act, Order, or Ordinance, is of any Force, without having passed both Houses in due Parliamentary Form.
1711 Fingall MSS in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. v. 116 He desired money in a parliamentary way from his people.
1853 L. S. Cushing Man. Parl. Pract. §1270 The motion to reconsider, though relating to the same subject already considered, is, in a parliamentary sense, a new one, distinct both from a motion to rescind the former vote, and from the subject of it.
1893 Dict. National Biogr. at Ludlow, Edmund The readmission of the secluded members..put an end to all hope of maintaining the commonwealth by parliamentary means.
1980 Economist (Nexis) 19 Jan. 17 The speaker..gave MPs a little lecture on parliamentary manners: an MP who speaks in a debate must then remain to hear the rest of the debate.
2003 Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.) (Nexis) 22 Oct. 14 Chairman John Reilly Jr. called Hersch and Burkhall out of order for arguing and failing to follow parliamentary procedure.
c. Of language: such as is permitted to be used, or is customarily used, in Parliament (cf. unparliamentary adj.). Formerly also, in extended use: admissible in polite conversation or discussion; civil, courteous.Occasionally of a peculiar or novel word or phrase: that has been used by someone in Parliament.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > elegance > [adjective] > refined or cultured
polite?a1500
fileda1533
facetious1542
exquisited1581
refined1582
smooth1589
perpolite1592
terse1628
washed1628
refine1646
parliamentary1789
literary1793
urbane1800
1789 B. Franklin Let. to N. Webster 26 Dec. in Wks. (1793) II. 80 During my late absence in France, I find that several other new words have been introduced into our parliamentary language.
1818 Parl. Deb. 1st Ser. 1409 Mr. Brougham asked, whether the last expression [‘totally false’] of the hon. gentleman was intended in a parliamentary sense?
1824 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XVI lxxiii. 100 He was ‘free to confess’—(whence comes this phrase? Is't English? No—'tis only parliamentary) [i.e. used by the Younger Pitt, 1788–9].
1824 J. Galt Rothelan I. ii. vii. 205 The taste and discrimination with which we so give them the go-by, to use an elegant parliamentary phrase.
1854 R. W. Emerson Eloquence in Wks. (1906) III. 192 The speech of the man in the street is invariably strong, nor can you mend it by making it what you call parliamentary.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt II. xxx. 223 The nomination-day was a great epoch of successful trickery, or, to speak in a more parliamentary manner, of war-stratagem.
1914 N.E.D. at Tram-road In parliamentary language, [a tram-road is] a special track or narrow railroad for wagons or cars, as distinguished from a tramway laid down for tram-cars on an ordinary road or street.
1987 J. Prophet Councillor (BNC) 30 By operating what is referred to in Parliamentary jargon as ‘the usual channels’ [party whips] can assist in the smooth running of the authority.
d. allusively. Slow or deliberate, like the procedure of Parliament. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > slowness of action or operation > [adjective] > unhurried
toomsomea1400
leisurefulc1449
amblinga1470
hooly1513
leisurablea1540
unhasty1590
leisurely1604
slow-paced1610
unprecipitated1698
leisure1708
unhurrieda1774
jog-trot1826
parliamentary1835
hasteless1838
time-taking1839
unhasting1839
slowed-down1905
1835 J. M. Gully in tr. F. Magendie Formulary Pref. 3 Beholding the parliamentary pace of our British Pharmacopœias in the official recognition and adoption of the numerous and active remedies which the chemists of France are continually sending forth.
1997 Newsday (Nexis) 23 July ii. b9 Nor does the introduction of a couple dozen bishops enliven things much: The Act II session of the Council of Trent goes by at a parliamentary pace.
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society > law > legislation > legislator > [adjective] > relating to specific French body
parliamentary1620
1620 N. Brent tr. P. Sarpi Hist. Councel of Trent v. 463 There was a fame that the French-men, though Catholikes, came with Sorbonicall and Parlamentarie minds [It. venissero con quelli suoi pensieri Sorbonici, & Parlamentarij], fully bent to acknowledge the Pope no further then they pleased.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. i. 2 The proceedings in the Parliamentary Courts of Paris, during the seventeenth century.
3.
a. Of, belonging to, or relating to a parliament, or to Parliament as an institution; of the nature of a parliament.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > [adjective]
parliamental1570
comitial1604
parliamentary1626
senatical1651
senatorial1742
parliamentarian1882
1626 S. D'Ewes Let. 4 Feb. in Autobiogr. & Corr. (1845) II. 179 Ordinarie newes I omitt, such I call Parliamentarie, of the Lower House, and forraine.
1644 J. Vicars Jehovah-jireh 134 That forementioned..inclination of our Parliamentary-Senators.
1774 T. Jefferson Rights of Brit. Amer. in Writings (1984) 114 The cowards who would suffer a countryman to be torn from the bowels of their society, in order to be thus offered a sacrifice to parliamentary tyranny.
1814 M. Edgeworth Patronage IV. xxxvii. 92 I know..as a minister, what must be yielded to parliamentary influence.
1858 H. G. G. Grey Parl. Govt. vi. 90 Our whole system of Parliamentary Government rests..upon the Ministers of the Crown possessing such authority in Parliament as to enable them generally to direct its proceedings.
1886 W. E. Gladstone Speech 21 Jan. in Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 302 112 I will venture to recommend them, as an old Parliamentary hand, to do the same.
1930 W. K. Hancock Australia x. 210 The practice of the Australian Labour party makes England's classic philosophy of parliamentary government appear strangely artless and out of date.
a1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 239 The parliamentary draftsman who has worked on my Bill is superb.
1998 Independent 10 Mar. i. 4/6 The hand-made, Pugin-design carpeting used in the main parliamentary building.
b. Of, relating to, or adhering to the Parliament in the English Civil War. Cf. parliament man n. 2. Now British History.
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > [adjective] > parliamentarian
malignant1641
round-headed1641
parliamentarian1647
parliamentary1648
roundhead1695
1648 W. Lilly Astrol. Predict. 22 Some disaffected Clergie-men, or lukewarm Parliamentary-men, who are double tongued, & shew their Janus faces; sometimes Regal, then Parliamentary, other times Scotified, then Neutrals.
1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. III. lxi. 319 He..inspired that spirit which rendered the parliamentary armies in the end victorious.
1778 T. Pennant Tour in Wales I. 10 His house, which, in September 1643, was surrendered to the parlementary forces.
1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 560/1 In 1642 Worcester was besieged by the parliamentary forces.
1886 Eng. Hist. Rev. 1 386 The aim of the royalist cavalry was to get at the parliamentary rear,..whilst the advanced portion of the army was striving to establish itself in the open ground.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 693/2 On the arrival of the parliamentary forces soon afterwards in Oxford he secreted the Christ Church valuables.
1946 Econ. Hist. Rev. 16 107 An ordinance to enable parliamentary veterans to set up shop where they chose was issued in September 1654.
1992 Daily Mail (Nexis) 24 June 21 The converted chapel, Cromwell's Rest—which was reputedly used by Parliamentary soldiers during the Civil War.
B. n.
1. † b. A person, esp. a soldier, on the side of Parliament in the English Civil War; = parliamentarian n. 2. Obsolete.
a. A member of Parliament or a parliament.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > English or British parliament > [noun] > Member of Parliament
member1454
parliament man1555
parliamentary1626
parliamenter1656
MP1764
parliamentarian1834
MSP1994
1626 J. Mead Let. 24 June in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times Charles I (1848) (modernized text) I. 116 The eight parliamentaries who gave their charge against him to the Lords will not accuse him in that court.
a1792 E. L. Sheridan Let. in S. Parr Wks. (1828) VIII. 468 An unlucky word..has made some little confusion in the heads of a few old Parliamentaries.
1878 W. Morris in J. W. Mackail Life W. Morris I. 362 On Monday our Parliamentaries began to quake.
1975 Aviation Week & Space Technol. (Nexis) 16 June 16 There has been some concern among parliamentaries as to the firm's ability to manage a program of this size.
1995 Irish Times (Nexis) 20 Nov. 15 When two Irish parliamentaries attempted to visit East Timor last weekend, on the anniversary of the Dili massacre, they were prevented from doing so.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > [noun] > supporter of parliament, Cromwell, or commonwealth
roundhead1641
parliamentarian1642
parliamenteer1642
parliament man1642
Westminsterian1645
Oliverian1648
parliamentary1649
parliamenterc1650
commonwealth man1651
aproneer1659
Protectorian1659
Protectorist1659
1649 Declar. Bps. & Clergy at Clonmacnoise 4 Dec. in J. C. Monahan Rec. Dioceses Ardagh & Clonm. (1886) 101 The Commander in Chief of the Rebel Forces commonly called Parliamentaries.
1875 M. Pattison in Macmillan's Mag. July 241/2 In the first siege, 1645, the Parliamentaries were quiet besiegers.
2. Short for parliamentary train n. at Compounds. Also figurative. Now historical.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > train > passenger train > types of
parliamentary train1845
excursion-train1849
parliamentary1854
parly1855
corridor train1892
trip-train1894
railmotor1903
railbus1932
mystery train1933
pool passenger train1934
Skybus1963
pay-train1968
1854 C. Dickens Hard Times i. xii. 92 I came forty mile by Parliamentary this morning, and..I walked nine mile to the station.
1864 C. E. L. Riddell George Geith (1865) II. vi. 54 Our pleasures travel by express: our pains by parliamentary.
2000 R. W. Holder Taunton Cider & Langdons iii. 12 There were trains which did the 43 miles to Bristol in half that time, but Parliamentaries had to stop at every halt and station on the way.
3. A person sent to parley with the enemy, to make or listen to proposals. Cf. parlementaire n. Now rare.
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society > armed hostility > peace > pacification > peace treaty > [noun] > mediator
mediatorc1410
treater1489
parlementaire1853
parliamentary1855
shuttle diplomat1977
1855 R. F. Burton Personal Narr. Pilgrimage to El-Medinah I. xiii. 261 [They] sent forward a ‘parliamentary’, ordering us forthwith to stop.
1898 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 15 Apr. 1/2 The colonial government..is to send Senors Giberga, Dolz and Viondi in the character of parliamentaries, to treat with the insurgents.
a1969 D. Heaton-Armstrong Six Month Kingdom (2005) xiv. 78 A truce was called and parliamentaries..went out from the town to talk to the rebels.
Compounds
parliamentary agent n. a person professionally employed to take charge of the interests of a party concerned in or affected by any private legislation.
ΚΠ
1819 J. Dean in J. L. McAdam Remarks on Present Syst. Road Making (1823) 187 Would you, as a parliamentary agent, undertake to prepare and conduct an ordinary road bill through parliament?
1981 W. A. Joubert Law S. Afr. XIV. 408 Work on behalf of the government of the Republic as is by law, practice or custom performed by attorneys, notaries and conveyancers or by parliamentary agents.
1998 Jrnl. Contemp. Hist. 33 252 Before 1939, he was parliamentary agent for the BUF in the Dorset West constituency.
parliamentary army n. (also with capital initial(s)) an army controlled by an elected parliament, usually as opposed to that of a monarch; esp. the Parliamentarian forces in the English Civil War.
ΚΠ
1656 J. Harrington Common-wealth of Oceana Order 27. 234 You may adde unto a Parliamentary Army an equall number of Marpesians, or Panopeans, as that Colony shall hereafter be able to supply you.
1750 R. Rolt Conduct Powers of Europe in Late War IV. 70 Many repaired to the parliamentary army, commanded by the Earl of Essex.
1849 Southern Literary Messenger Mar. 138/1 Some [of the republican party of Germany] proposed..to form a Parliamentary army.
1924 E. M. Hulme Hist. Brit. People xvi. 302 Cromwell..knew it was necessary to get rid of the Presbyterian generals and to remodel the Parliamentary army.
1992 J. M. Kelly Short Hist. Western Legal Theory vi. 230 In mid-century, during the parliamentary army's ‘Putney Debates’ of 1647, the natural right to contract and inherit..was repeatedly stressed by Ireton.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > carriage designed to carry passengers > other types of passenger carriage
caravan1821
private car1826
Jim Crow car1835
ladies' car1841
saloon car or carriage1842
palace car1844
ladies' carriage1847
parliamentary carriage1849
parlour car1859
composite carriage1868
Pullman1869
observation car1872
first1873
compo1878
bogie carriage1880
chair-car1880
club car1893
corridor carriage1893
tourist-car1895
birdcage1900
dog box1905
corridor coach1911
vista-dome1945
Stolypin1970
1849 A. Smith Pottleton Legacy (repr.) 65 In a parliamentary carriage, very like a rabbit-hutch.
1868 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 31 479 To four persons using the third-class and parliamentary carriages there are two who go by the second-class, and one who travels first-class.
Parliamentary Commissioner (for Administration) n. (in the United Kingdom) = ombudsman n.
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society > authority > office > holder of office > public officials > [noun] > ombudsman
ombudsman1824
Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration1966
ombudsperson1975
1966 Listener 11 Aug. 194/2 Sir Edmund Compton, Comptroller and Auditor-General, is to be Britain's first Parliamentary Commissioner, or Ombudsman.
1991 J. Kingdom Local Govt. & Politics in Brit. viii. 148 In 1967 Parliament established the office of Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (PCA), or Ombudsman, to deal with citizens' complaints of what was termed maladministration by the hand of the state.
Parliamentary Counsel n. Law (in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth jurisdictions) a group of lawyers (formerly, barristers) employed as civil servants to draft government bills and amendments; a lawyer employed in such a way.
ΚΠ
1833 Rep. Sel. Comm. Establ. House of Commons 163 in Parl. Papers XII. 341 You are Parliamentary Counsel to the Treasury?—I am.
1886 Whitaker's Almanack 156/1 Office of Parliamentary Counsel,—Spring Gardens. Parliamentary Counsel, Hen. Jenkyns, C.B.
1969 Times 2 May 22/1 The work of the Parliamentary Counsel is not widely known. They draft the Government's Parliamentary Bills.
1994 M. Zander Law-making Process (ed. 4) 14 Parliamentary counsel normally work in pairs in close collaboration with the civil servants who instruct them.
parliamentary fare n. now historical the fare paid on a parliamentary train (see parliamentary train n.).
ΚΠ
1853 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 16 296 This is evidently not the only effect which the cheap parliamentary fares have had on the character of the passenger traffic.
1908 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 71 106 The so-called parliamentary fare became the price of the privilege of travelling by the slowest train.
parliamentary minister n. now historical (in the Church of Scotland) a minister of a church which has an endowment but which is not a parish church; (also) a minister appointed by or supporting Parliament during the English Civil War.
ΚΠ
1854 H. Miller My Schools & Schoolmasters xxii. 461 When..the General Assembly admitted what were known as the Parliamentary ministers, and the ministers of chapels of ease, to a seat in the church courts.
1885 Dict. National Biogr. at Bowles, Edward He was chaplain to the second Earl of Manchester, and..was appointed one of the four parliamentary ministers in that city [sc. York].
1994 Jrnl. Brit. Stud. 33 155 Despite the clergy's noise and visibility..the influence of parliamentary ministers on the course of the [English civil] war and conduct in it was marginal.
parliamentary party n. a political party, or its Members collectively, in Parliament, as distinguished from the party in the nation as a whole.
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun] > party in parliament
parliamentary party1906
Lib-Dem1989
1906 Labour Party Q. Circular Apr. 2 The propaganda work in the constituencies is best assisted by a close pursuance of the Labour policy in the House of Commons by all the members of the Parliamentary Party.
1944 G. B. Shaw Everybody's Polit. What's What? xxx. 263 To the people it seemed that the dictators could fulfil their promises if they would, and that the parliamentary parties could not even if they would.
1987 Sunday Tel. 28 June 1/2 In the SDP national committee, support for the anti-merger stance of the SDP parliamentary party has hardened.
ΚΠ
1886 J. Barrowman Gloss. Sc. Mining Terms 49 Parliamentary pit, an outlet pit required by statute.
parliamentary private secretary n. (in the United Kingdom) a member of parliament who acts as assistant to a government minister (the post being unpaid and having no official status).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government minister > [noun] > minister in British government > assistant to minister
permanent under-secretary1859
parliamentary private secretary1917
PPS1936
1917 H.M. Ministers & Heads of Public Departments (Stationery Office) 1 Parliamentary Private Secretary... Capt. Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, M.P.
1939 W. I. Jennings Parliament vii. 229 A department official and the draftsman are seated in the ‘box’ and communications pass through his parliamentary private secretary or ‘fetch-and-carry’ man.
2002 Times 25 July 30/3 His Honour..was a Conservative MP, a circuit judge,..Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Solicitor General, [etc.].
parliamentary secretary n. (originally) a parliamentary officer ranking below and acting as assistant to a minister; (subsequently) a person holding the most junior ministerial rank.
ΚΠ
1850 Rep. Sel. Comm. Official Salaries 8 in Parl. Papers XV. 179 With regard to the Parliamentary secretaryship, which I once held myself, I do not know so difficult or so disagreeable office in the Government.]
1851 Treasury Minutes 20 May in Parl. Papers 1851 XXXI. 379 Political Offices... Poor Law Board: President,..Parliamentary Secretary.
1886 Manch. Examiner 8 Feb. 5/5 The office he has long worthily held as parliamentary secretary to the Trades' Union Congress.
1954 H. Morrison Govt. & Parl. iv. 66 The life of the Parliamentary Secretary can be interesting and fairly full, or, on the other hand, uninteresting and rather empty.
1990 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 29 June 8/8 Mr Sciacca and Mr McMullan hold a new form of job. They are ‘parliamentary secretaries’. The child maintenance scheme is just one example of the work they are assigned.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > [noun] > train ticket > types of
commutation ticket1848
scalp ticket1880
parliamentary ticket1893
contract1899
awayday1972
1893 G. Allen Scallywag I. 178 A parliamentary ticket by the slow train from Dorsetshire to Hillborough.
parliamentary train n. now historical a train carrying passengers at a rate not exceeding one penny per mile, which, by a British Act of Parliament of 1844 ( 7 & 8 Victoria c. 85), every railway company was obliged to run daily each way over its system; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > train > passenger train > types of
parliamentary train1845
excursion-train1849
parliamentary1854
parly1855
corridor train1892
trip-train1894
railmotor1903
railbus1932
mystery train1933
pool passenger train1934
Skybus1963
pay-train1968
1845 Bradshaw's Railway Guide Aug. 5 Fares between London and Brighton—Passengers by 1st class 11/ 2 hour trains, 14s. 6d.;..2nd class..by 21/ 2 hour trains, 8s.; third class, 5s.; parliamentary trains, 4s. 3d.
1851 Househ. Words 11 Jan. 362/1 These deputy-thinkers..are sometimes quick at grievances. They drive Express Trains to that point, and Parliamentary to all other points.
1997 W. Burton Malton & Driffield Junction Railway 27 Initially only the first train in either direction carried third class passengers and was shown as ‘Gov’ in the timetable indicating that it was a ‘Government’ or ‘Parliamentary’ train.
parliamentary under-secretary n. (in the United Kingdom) a parliamentary secretary in a department headed by a Secretary of State.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government minister > [noun] > minister in British government > under-secretary
under-secretary1677
parliamentary under-secretary1858
1858 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 21 28 The defence of the delinquent, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, was that he had only complied with the feelings of the House of Commons.
1918 Act 8 George V c. 3 §1 (1) A Secretary who shall discharge the functions both of a parliamentary secretary to the Board and a parliamentary under-secretary to the Secretary of State.
1991 N. W. Ellis John Major iii. 85 He was unable to avoid controversy soon after he took over his job as Parliamentary Under Secretary at the DHSS when he asked for and managed to get increased cold weather payments for pensioners.
Derivatives
parliaˈmentaryism n. rare = parliamentarianism n.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > government by the people or their delegates > [noun] > parliamentary system
parliamentaryism1839
parliamentarianism1852
parliamentarism1857
1839 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 46 105 They have no taste for..the journalism, the budgetism, the parliamentaryism of the 19th century.
2001 N.Y. Times 8 Mar. a8/3 Critics had attacked that system as an unstable hybrid of European-style parliamentaryism and American-modeled presidentialism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1616