Hypertext Webster Gateway: "pretorian"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Pretorian \Pre*to"ri*an\, a. [L. praetorians: cf. F.
pr['e]torien.]
Of or pertaining to a pretor or magistrate; judicial;
exercised by, or belonging to, a pretor; as, pretorian power
or authority.
{Pretorian bands} or {guards}, or {Pretorians} (Rom. Hist.),
the emperor's bodyguards, instituted by the Emperor
Augustus in nine cohorts of 1,000 men each.
{Pretorian gate} (Rom. Antiq.), that one of the four gates in
a camp which lay next the enemy. --Brande & C.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Pretorian \Pre*to"ri*an\, n.
A soldier of the pretorian guard.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
pretorian
adj 1: of or relating to a Roman praetor; "praetorial powers" [syn:
{praetorian}, {praetorial}, {pretorial}]
2: characteristic of Praetorian soldiers in respect to
corruption or political venality; "a large praetorian
bureaucracy filled with ambitious...and often sycophantic
people makes work and makes trouble"- Arthur M.Schlesinger
Jr. [syn: {praetorian}]
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