executives - Definition of executives at Define.com Dictionary and Thesaurus (define executives)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Executive \Ex*ec"u*tive\, adjective [Cf.F. ex['e]cutif.]

1. Designed or fitted for execution, or carrying into effect; as, executive talent; qualifying for, concerned with, or pertaining to, the execution of the laws or the conduct of affairs; as, executive power or authority; executive duties, officer, department, etc.

Note: In government, executive is distinguished from {legislative} and {judicial}; {legislative} being applied to the organ or organs of government which make the laws; {judicial}, to that which interprets and applies the laws; executive, to that which carries them into effect or secures their due performance.

2. of or pertaining to an executive[2] or to the group of executives within an organization; as, executive compensation increased more rapidly than wages in the 1980's; the executive suite. [PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Executive \Ex*ec"u*tive\, noun

1. An impersonal title of the chief magistrate or officer who administers the government, whether king, president, or governor; the governing person or body.

2. a person who has administrative authority over an organization or division of an organization; a manager, supervisor or administrator at a high level within an organization; as, all executives of the company were given stock options [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

executive

adjective

1: having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.; "the executive branch"

noun

1: a person responsible for the administration of a business [syn: {executive director}]

2: persons who administer the law

3: someone who manages a government agency or department [syn: {administrator}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

92 Moby Thesaurus words for "executive": administrating, administration, administrative, administrator, archon, big cheese, board, board of directors, board of regents, board of trustees, boss, bureaucratic, businessman, businesswoman, cabinet, cadre, captain, castellan, chancellor, chatelain, chatelaine, chief executive, chief executive officer, commandant, commander, council, dean, directing, director, directorate, directorship, directory, entrepreneur, exec, executive arm, executive committee, executive director, executive hierarchy, executive officer, executive secretary, foreman, governing, governing board, governing body, government, governmental, governor, gubernatorial, head, infrastructure, intendant, interlocking directorate, kingpin, leader, leadership, magistrate, management, manager, managerial, managing, managing director, master, ministerial, number one, officer, official, officiating, overseer, prefect, president, presiding, prexy, principal, provost, regulatory, ruler, secretary, steering committee, superintendent, supervision, supervisor, supervisory, the administration, the brass, the executive, the people upstairs, top brass, top dog, treasurer, vice-chancellor, vice-president, warden

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

executive The {command interpreter} or {shell} for an {operating system}. The term is used especially around {mainframes} and probably derived from {UNIVAC}'s archaic {EXEC 2} and current (in 2000) {EXEC 8} {operating systems}. (2000-08-06)

EXECUTIVE, noun An officer of the Government, whose duty it is to enforce the wishes of the legislative power until such time as the judicial department shall be pleased to pronounce them invalid and of no effect. Following is an extract from an old book entitled, _The Lunarian Astonished_ -- Pfeiffer & Co., Boston, 1803:

LUNARIAN: Then when your Congress has passed a law it goes directly to the Supreme Court in order that it may at once be known whether it is constitutional? TERRESTRIAN: O no; it does not require the approval of the Supreme Court until having perhaps been enforced for many years somebody objects to its operation against himself -- I mean his client. The President, if he approves it, begins to execute it at once. LUNARIAN: Ah, the executive power is a part of the legislative. Do your policemen also have to approve the local ordinances that they enforce? TERRESTRIAN: Not yet -- at least not in their character of constables. Generally speaking, though, all laws require the approval of those whom they are intended to restrain. LUNARIAN: I see. The death warrant is not valid until signed by the murderer. TERRESTRIAN: My friend, you put it too strongly; we are not so consistent. LUNARIAN: But this system of maintaining an expensive judicial machinery to pass upon the validity of laws only after they have long been executed, and then only when brought before the court by some private person -- does it not cause great confusion? TERRESTRIAN: It does. LUNARIAN: Why then should not your laws, previously to being executed, be validated, not by the signature of your President, but by that of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? TERRESTRIAN: There is no precedent for any such course. LUNARIAN: Precedent. What is that? TERRESTRIAN: It has been defined by five hundred lawyers in three volumes each. So how can any one know?