The conventions or associations of several particles
of matter into bodies of any certain denomination.
--Boyle.
2. General agreement or concurrence; arbitrary custom; usage;
conventionality.
There are thousands now Such women, but convention
beats them down. --Tennyson.
3. A meeting or an assembly of persons, esp. of delegates or
representatives, to accomplish some specific object, --
civil, social, political, or ecclesiastical.
He set himself to the making of good laws in a grand
convention of his nobles. --Sir R.
Baker.
A convention of delegates from all the States, to
meet in Philadelphia, for the sole and express
purpose of reserving the federal system, and
correcting its defects. --W. Irving.
4. (Eng. Hist) An extraordinary assembly of the parkiament or
estates of the realm, held without the king's writ, -- as
the assembly which restored Charles II. to the throne, and
that which declared the throne to be abdicated by James
II.
Our gratitude is due . . . to the Long Parliament,
to the Convention, and to William of Orange.
--Macaulay.
5. An agreement or contract less formal than, or preliminary
to, a treaty; an informal compact, as between commanders
of armies in respect to suspension of hostilities, or
between states; also, a formal agreement between
governments or sovereign powers; as, a postal convention
between two governments.
This convention, I think from my soul, is nothing
but a stipulation for national ignominy; a truce
without a suspension of hostilities. --Ld. Chatham.
The convention with the State of Georgia has been
ratified by their Legislature. --T.
Jefferson.