What does "province" mean?

Province: A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital. "Kingdoms and provinces." Shak.

Additional senses

  1. 2.A region of country; a tract; a district. Over many a tract of heaven they marched, and many a province wide. Milton. Other provinces of the intellectual world. I. Watts.
  2. 3.A region under the supervision or direction of any special person; the district or division of a country, especially an ecclesiastical division, over which one has jurisdiction; as, the province of Canterbury, or that in which the archbishop of Canterbury exercises ecclesiastical authority.
  3. 4.The proper or appropriate business or duty of a person or body; office; charge; jurisdiction; sphere. The woman'sprovince is to be careful in her economy, and chaste in her affection. Tattler.
  4. 5.Specif.: Any political division of the Dominion of Canada, having a governor, a local legislature, and representation in the Dominion parliament. Hence, colloquially, The Provinces, the Dominion of Canada.

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