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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Congregation \Con'gre*ga"tion\, noun [L. congregatio: cf. F. congr['e]gation.]
1. The act of congregating, or bringing together, or of collecting into one aggregate or mass.
The means of reduction in the fire is but by the congregation of homogeneal parts. --Bacon.
2. A collection or mass of separate things.
A foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. --Shak.
3. An assembly of persons; a gathering; esp. an assembly of persons met for the worship of God, and for religious instruction; a body of people who habitually so meet.
He [Bunyan] rode every year to London, and preached there to large and attentive congregations. --Macaulay.
4. (Anc. Jewish Hist.) The whole body of the Jewish people; -- called also {Congregation of the Lord}.
It is a sin offering for the congregation. --Lev. iv. 21.
5. (R. C. Ch.) (a) A body of cardinals or other ecclesiastics to whom as intrusted some department of the church business; as, the Congregation of the Propaganda, which has charge of the missions of the Roman Catholic Church. (b) A company of religious persons forming a subdivision of a monastic order.
6. The assemblage of Masters and Doctors at Oxford or Cambrige University, mainly for the granting of degrees. [Eng.]
7. (Scotch Church Hist.) the name assumed by the Protestant party under John Knox. The leaders called themselves (1557) Lords of the Congregation.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
congregation
noun
1: a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church [syn: {fold}, {faithful}]
2: an assemblage of people or animals or things collected together; "a congregation of children pleaded for his autograph"; "a great congregation of birds flew over"
3: the act of congregating [syn: {congregating}]
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Congregation (Heb. kahal), the Hebrew people collectively as a holy community (Num. 15:15). Every circumcised Hebrew from twenty years old and upward was a member of the congregation. Strangers resident in the land, if circumcised, were, with certain exceptions (Ex. 12:19; Num. 9:14; Deut. 23:1-3), admitted to the privileges of citizenship, and spoken of as members of the congregation (Ex. 12:19; Num. 9:14; 15:15). The congregation were summonded together by the sound of two silver trumpets, and they met at the door of the tabernacle (Num. 10:3). These assemblies were convened for the purpose of engaging in solemn religious services (Ex. 12:27; Num. 25:6; Joel 2:15), or of receiving new commandments (Ex. 19:7, 8). The elders, who were summonded by the sound of one trumpet (Num. 10:4), represented on various occasions the whole congregation (Ex. 3:16; 12:21; 17:5; 24:1). After the conquest of Canaan, the people were assembled only on occasions of the highest national importance (Judg. 20; 2 Chr. 30:5; 34:29; 1 Sam. 10:17; 2 Sam. 5:1-5; 1 Kings 12:20; 2 Kings 11:19; 21:24; 23:30). In subsequent times the congregation was represented by the Sanhedrim; and the name synagogue, applied in the Septuagint version exclusively to the congregation, came to be used to denote the places of worship established by the Jews. (See {CHURCH}.) In Acts 13:43, where alone it occurs in the New Testament, it is the same word as that rendered "synagogue" (q.v.) in ver. 42, and is so rendered in ver. 43 in R.V.
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