Prov"ince (?), n. [F., fr. L.
provincia; prob. fr. pro before, for + the root of
vincere to conquer. See Victor.] 1.
(Roman Hist.) A country or region, more or less remote
from the city of Rome, brought under the Roman government; a conquered
country beyond the limits of Italy. Wyclif (Acts xiii. 34).
Milton.
2. A country or region dependent on a distant
authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the
capital. "Kingdoms and provinces." Shak.
3. A region of country; a tract; a
district.
Over many a tract
of heaven they marched, and many a province wide.
Milton.
Other provinces of the intellectual
world.
I. Watts.
4. A region under the supervision or direction
of any special person; the district or division of a country,
especially an ecclesiastical division, over which one has
jurisdiction; as, the province of Canterbury, or that in which
the archbishop of Canterbury exercises ecclesiastical
authority.
5. The proper or appropriate business or duty
of a person or body; office; charge; jurisdiction; sphere.
The woman'sprovince is to be careful in her
economy, and chaste in her affection.
Tattler.
6. Specif.: Any political division of the
Dominion of Canada, having a governor, a local legislature, and
representation in the Dominion parliament. Hence, colloquially, The
Provinces, the Dominion of Canada.
