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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Magistrate \Mag"is*trate\, noun [L. magistratus, fr. magister master: cf. F. magistrat. See {Master}.] A person clothed with power as a public civil officer; a public civil officer invested with the executive government, or some branch of it. ''All Christian rulers and magistrates.'' --Book of Com. Prayer.
Of magistrates some also are supreme, in whom the sovereign power of the state resides; others are subordinate. --Blackstone.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
magistrate
noun: a public official authorized to decide questions bought before a court of justice [syn: {judge}, {justice}, {jurist}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
75 Moby Thesaurus words for "magistrate": JP, Justice, alderman, arbiter, arbitrator, archon, bailie, beak, bencher, burghermaster, burgomaster, cabinet member, cabinet minister, chancellor, chief executive, chief executive officer, city councilman, city father, city manager, commissar, commissioner, councillor, councilman, councilwoman, county commissioner, county supervisor, court, critic, dean, elder, executive, executive director, executive officer, executive secretary, headman, his honor, his lordship, his worship, impartial arbitrator, indicator, induna, judge, justice, legislator, lord mayor, maire, management, managing director, mayor, minister, minister of state, moderator, officer, official, portreeve, prefect, president, prexy, provost, reeve, referee, secretary, secretary of state, selectman, supervisor, syndic, the administration, third party, treasurer, umpire, unbiased observer, undersecretary, vice-chancellor, vice-president, warden
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Magistrate a public civil officer invested with authority. The Hebrew shophetim, or judges, were magistrates having authority in the land (Deut. 1:16, 17). In Judg. 18:7 the word "magistrate" (A.V.) is rendered in the Revised Version "possessing authority", i.e., having power to do them harm by invasion. In the time of Ezra (9:2) and Nehemiah (2:16; 4:14; 13:11) the Jewish magistrates were called _seganim_, properly meaning "nobles." In the New Testament the Greek word _archon_, rendered "magistrate" (Luke 12:58; Titus 3:1), means one first in power, and hence a prince, as in Matt. 20:25, 1 Cor. 2:6, 8. This term is used of the Messiah, "Prince of the kings of the earth" (Rev. 1:5). In Acts 16:20, 22, 35, 36, 38, the Greek term _strategos_, rendered "magistrate," properly signifies the leader of an army, a general, one having military authority. The _strategoi_ were the duumviri, the two praetors appointed to preside over the administration of justice in the colonies of the Romans. They were attended by the sergeants (properly lictors or "rod bearers").
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