congress

Noun (1)

congress (countable and uncountable, plural congresses)

1. A formal gathering or assembly of persons; a conference held to discuss or decide on a specific question.
2. (capitalized, often) A legislative body of a state, originally the bicameral legislature of the United States of America.
   • Republicans have their own high stakes in November. Losing control of Congress, they say, could mean a highly politicized impeachment of their president.2018 January 27, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Nicholas Fandos, “As Gridlock Deepens in Congress, Only Gloom Is Bipartisan”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms:

   assembly, legislature, parliament

3. An association, especially one consisting of other associations or representatives of interest groups.
   • Near-synonyms: federation, confederation
   • the National Congress of American Indians

   Synonyms:

   federation, confederation

4. (dated) Coitus: sexual intercourse.
   • Welsh ponies, I learn from a man who has had much experience with these animals, habitually produce erections and emissions in their stalls; they do not bring their hind quarters up during this process, and they close their eyes, which does not take place when they have congress with mares.1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 (of 6)
   • Not three weeks before this he was run out of Fort Smith Arkansas for having congress with a goat. Yes lady, that is what I said. Goat.1985, Cormac McCarthy, chapter 1, in Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   sexual congress

5. (archaic) A coming together of two or more people; a meeting.
   • After some little repast, he went to see Democritus […]. The multitude stood gazing round about to see the congress., New York Review of Books, 2001, p.48
6. (collective, countable, rare) A group of baboons.
   • […] the council hall stank like a congress of baboons.1966, Philip José Farmer, “Riverworld”, in Down in the Black Gang and Others, Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, published 1971, page 79
   • Saw a congress of baboons of all sizes making their way to a mountaintop to spend the night on the rocks and trees there.2013, Dick Hrebik, Walter Goes to War—WWII, Rolling Meadows, IL: Windy City Publishers, Chapter 7, p. 133

   Synonyms:

   flange

Verb

IPA/kənˈɡɹɛs/

congress (third-person singular simple present congresses, present participle congressing, simple past and past participle congressed)

1. (intransitive) To assemble together.

   Synonyms:

   congregate

2. To meet in a congress.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Congress

Congress or the Congress

1. (US) The two legislative bodies of the United States: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
   • The bill was stewarded through Congress to the President.
   • He pitched his budget proposal to Congress.
2. (Philippine) The legislature of the Philippines.
   1. (Philippine, more specifically) The House of Representatives of the Philippines.
3. (India, abbreviation, clipping, Indian politics) Clipping of Indian National Congress

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Congress

Congress

1. A census-designated place in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States.

   Synonyms:

   Capitol Hill

2. A village in Wayne County, Ohio, United States.
3. A hamlet in the Rural Municipality of Stonehenge, No. 73, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Noun (2) capitalized: Congress

Congress (plural Congresses)

1. (US) A two-year session of the Congress, commencing after a Federal election and ending before the next one.
   • Two regular sessions of our federal legislative body are called a Congress, and Congresses have been numbered consecutively since the first one met in 1789. The first two sessions were called the first Congress; […]1946, Emil F. Faith, Richard Gibbs Browne, Our Civic Life and Progress, Mentzer, Bush & Company, page 248