Definition

An enumeration of the particular acts included by or under a name: as, the definition of a crime.6 See Define; Definitio. Legal definitions, for the most part, are generalizations derived from judicial experience. To be complete and adequate, they must sum up the results of all of that experience.' The meaning given to common words by the leading lexicographers is entitled to weight, yet regard must always be had to the circumstances under which a word fas, traveler) is used in a statute.^ The definitions of the standard lexicographers are authority as indicating the popular use of words. ^ See Etymology; Indictment; Word.