senate

From Middle English senat, from Old French senat, from Latin senātus (“council of elders; a senate”), from senex (“old”).

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛnɪt/, /ˈsɛnət/

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• Rhymes: -ɛnɪt

senate (plural senates)

1. In some bicameral legislative systems, the upper house or chamber.
2. A group of experienced, respected, wise individuals serving as decision makers or advisors in a political system or in institutional governance, as in a university, and traditionally of advanced age and male.
   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley,"The Revolt of Islam", canto 11, stanza 13, lines 4338-9,

     Before the Tyrant's throne

     All night his aged Senate sate.

• senate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “senate” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

• Santee, atenes, enates, ensate, sateen, tenase