legislature Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun persons who make or amend or repeal laws
legislative assembly; law-makers; legislative body; general assembly.

Cf. F. législature.

The body of persons in a state or kingdom invested with power to make and repeal laws; a legislative body.
Without the concurrent consent of all three parts of the legislature, no law is, or can be, made. Sir M. Hale.
✍ The legislature of Great Britain consists of the Lords and Commons, with the king or queen, whose sanction is necessary to every bill before it becomes a law. The legislatures of most of the United States consist of two houses or branches; but the sanction or consent of the governor is required to give their acts the force of law, or a concurrence of two thirds of the two houses after he has refused his sanction and assigned his objections.