E*lec"tion (?), n. [F. 'election, L. electio, fr. eligere to choose out. See Elect, a.]
1.
The act of choosing; choice; selection.
2.
The act of choosing a person to fill an office, or to membership in a society, as by ballot, uplifted hands, or viva voce; as, the election of a president or a mayor.
Corruption in elections is the great enemy of freedom.
J. Adams.
3.
Power of choosing; free will; liberty to choose or act.
"By his own
election led to ill."
Daniel.
4.
Discriminating choice; discernment.
[Obs.]
To use men with much difference and election is good.
Bacon.
5. Theol.
Divine choice; predestination of individuals as objects of mercy and salvation; -- one of the "five points" of Calvinism.
There is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Rom. xi. 5.
6. Law
The choice, made by a party, of two alternatives, by taking one of which, the chooser is excluded from the other.
7.
Those who are elected.
[Obs.]
The election hath obtained it.
Rom. xi. 7.
To contest an election. See under Contest. -- To make one's election, to choose.
He has made his election to walk, in the main, in the old paths.
Fitzed. Hall.
© Webster 1913.