counsel 
of a cause in court : as, the plaintiff's or defen- 
dant's counsel. [In this sense the word is either 
singular or plural.] 
This is my plea, on this I rest my cause 
What saith my counsel, learned in the laws? 
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 142. 
The king found his counsel as refractory as his judges. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
7f. Same as council, but properly a different 
word, the two being confused. See council. 
Corporation counsel, the title given in some of the 
United States to the legal counsel of a municipality. 
Evangelical counsels, the three vows of a monk in the 
Koman Catholic Church, namely, voluntary poverty, per- 
petual chastity, and entire obedience to an ecclesiastical 
superior. Queen's (or king's) counsel, in England, Ire- 
land, and the British colonies, barristers appointed as 
counsel to the crown, on the nomination of the lord chan- 
cellor, taking precedence over ordinary barristers, and dis- 
tinguished by having the privilege of wearing a silk gown 
as their professional robe, that of other barristers being of 
stuff. There is no salary attached to their office, and they 
cannot plead against the crown without permission. To 
buy off counsel. See bui/.To keep one's own coun- 
sel, not to disclose one's opinion ; be reticent. 
On the ocean so deep 
She her council did keep. 
The Woman Warrior (Child's Ballads, VII. 258). 
Clint opened his heart and confided everything to Phil, 
but Phil kept his own counsel. 
J. T. Trowbridge, Coupon Bonds, p. 215. 
To take counsel, to consult ; seek advice ; deliberate : as, 
they took counsel together ; he took counsel of his fears. 
= Syn. 2. Suggestion, recommendation, admonition. 
counsel (koun'sel), v. ; pret. and pp. counseled 
or counselled, ppr. counseling or counselling. [< 
ME. counsellen, counseilcn, conseilen, concelleu, 
etc., < OF. conseiller, conseiler, conseillier, cunseil- 
ler, etc., F. conseiller = Pr. conseilhar, cosselhar 
= Sp. consejar = Pg. conselhar = It. consigliare, 
< L. consiliari, take counsel, < consilium, coun- 
sel: see counsel, .] I. trans. 1. To give coun- 
sel or advice to ; advise ; admonish ; instruct. 
And Crist counsatteth thus, and comaundeth bothe 
To lerede [learned] and to lewede [unlearned] for to loue 
oure enemys. Piers Plowman (C), xxii. 113. 
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. 
Rev. iii. 18. 
I may be counselled, and will always follow my friend's 
advice where I mid it reasonable, but will never part with 
the power of the militia. 
Dryden, Pret. to Albion and Albanius. 
They that will not be counselled cannot be helped. 
franklin. 
2. To advise or recommend ; urge the adop- 
tion of. 
Wherefore cease we then ? 
Say they who counsel war ; we are decreed, 
Reserved, and destined to eternal woe. 
Milton, P. L., ii. 1(50. 
II. intrans. To consult ; take counsel ; delib- 
erate. 
Be this was done, some gentillmen 
Of noble kin and blood, 
To counsell with tlilr lordis begane, 
Of matteris to eoncluide. 
Battle of Balri lines (Child's Ballads, VII. 223). 
counselable (koun'sel-a-bl), a. [Also written 
co unsellable ; < F. conscillable = Sp. consejalile: 
see counsel and -able.] 1. Willing to receive 
counsel; disposed to follow the advice or be 
guided by the judgment of others. [Bare.] 
Very few men of so great parts were . . . more cmmsel- 
lable than he [Lord Digby]. 
Clarendon, Great Rebellion, I. 344. 
2. Suitable to be counseled or advised ; advi- 
sable ; wise ; expedient. [Rare.] 
He did not believe it counsellable. 
Clarendon, Life, I. 178. 
counsel-keeper (koun'sel-ke'per), n. One who 
can keep a secret. 
counsel-keeping (koun'sel-ke"ping), a. Keep- 
ing secrets ; observing secrecy. 
With a happy storm they were surpris'd, 
And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave. 
Stuik.','m. And., ii. 3. 
counselor, counsellor (koun'sel-or), . [< ME. 
counselmir, councelour, counseiler, counseiller, 
counsellor, counceller, counsellor, counsailour, 
earliest form kunsiler (not distinguished from 
councilor), < OF. consellier, cunneiller, F. conseil- 
ler = Sp. consejero, consiliario = Pg. conselheiro, 
consiliario = It. consigliere, < L. consiliarius, a 
counselor, adviser, prop, adj., pertaining to 
counsel, advising, < consilium, counsel: see coun- 
sel, n. Cf. councilor, which is now discriminated 
from counselor. The spelling counsellor (and so 
councillor) with two Vs, as in chancellor, is preva- 
lent in England, but the double I is not origi- 
nal, as it is in chancellor. The proper historical 
spelling would be counselor (with -er, < L. -ari- 
us).~\ 1. Any person who gives counsel or ad- 
vice ; an adviser : as, in Great Britain the peers 
1300 
of the realm are hereditary counselors of the 
crown. 
Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, a man of great 
abilities, eloquence, and courage, but of a cruel and im- 
perious nature, was the counsellor most trusted in politi- 
cal and military affairs. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., i. 
2. A counseling lawyer; a barrister; specifi- 
cally, in some of the United States, an attorney 
admitted to practise in all the courts: called 
distinctively a counselor at law. 3f. Same as 
councilor, but properly a different word, the two 
being confused. See councilor. 
counselor ship, counsellorship (koun'sel-or- 
ship), H. [< counselor, counsellor, + -ship.'] The 
office of counselor. 
count 1 (kount), v. [< ME. counten, < OF. cunter, 
confer, F. confer = Pr. comtar, condar Sp. Pg. 
contar = It. contare, < L. computare, count, com- 
pute : see compute, which is a doublet of count 1 . 
Cf. compP-.] I. trans. 1. To number; assign 
the numerals one, two, three ; etc., successively 
and in order to all the individual objects of (a 
collection), one to each ; enumerate: as, to count 
the years, days, and hours of a man's life ; to 
count the stars. 
Who can count the dust of Jacob? Num. xxiii. 10. 
Some tribes of rude nations count their years by the 
coming of certain birds among them at their certain sea- 
sons and leaving them at others. Locke. 
We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; . . . 
We should count time by heart-throbs. 
P. J. Bailey, Festus, A Country Town. 
2. To ascertain the number of by more com- 
plex processes of computation ; compute ; reck- 
on. 
This boke sheweth the manner of measuring of all maner 
of lande . . . and comptynge the true nombre of acres of 
the same. Sir R. Benese (about 1530). 
3. To reckon to the credit of another; place 
to an account ; ascribe or impute ; consider or 
esteem as belonging. 
He [Abraham] believed in the Lord ; and he counted it to 
him for righteousness. Gen. xv. 6. 
4. To account ; esteem ; think, judge, deem, or 
consider. 
Neither count I my life dear unto myself. Acts xx. 24. 
Tis all one 
To be a witch as to be counted one. 
Ford and Dekker, Witch of Edmonton, ii. 1. 
I count the gray barbarian lower than the Christian child. 
Tennyson, Locksley Hall. 
Henceforth let day be counted night, 
And midnight called the morn. 
T. B. Aldrich, Two Songs from the Persian. 
5f. To recount. 
Therefore hathe it befallen many tymes of o thing, that 
I have herd couinted, whan I was gong. 
ilandeville, Travels, p. 183. 
To count a coup. See coup*. To count kin, to reck- 
on up or trace relationship. 
No knight in Cumberland so good, 
But William may count with him kin and blood. 
Scott, t. of L. M., iv. 23. 
To count one's chickens before they are hatched. 
See chicken^. To count out, to defeat by a fraudulent 
miscount of the ballots cast : as, to count out a candidate. 
To count out the House, in the British House of Com- 
mons, to bring a sitting to a close by the declaration of the 
Speaker (after counting) that fewer than 40 members (a 
quorum), including the Speaker, are present : as, the House 
was counted out last night at nine o'clock. 
It might perhaps be worth consideration whether divi- 
sions should be taken or the House counted out between 
seven o'clock and nine. Edinburgh Rev., CLXV. 293. 
To count the cost, to consider beforehand the probable 
expense, trouble, or risk. To count the house, to as- 
certain the number present, as of spectators at a perform- 
ance in r. theater, of members of a legislative body, etc. 
= Syn. 1 and 2. Compute, Reckon, etc. (see calculate), enu- 
merate, tell off. 4. To regard, deem, hold. 
II. intrans. 1. To ascertain the number of 
objects in a collection by assigning to them in 
order the numerals one, two, three, etc. ; de- 
termine the number of objects in a group by a 
process partly mechanical and partly arithmet- 
ical, or in any way whatsoever ; number. 2. 
To be able to reckon ; be expert in numbers : 
as, he can read, write, and count. 3. To take 
account ; enter into consideration : of a thing 
(obsolete), with a person. 
No man counts of her beauty. Shak., T. G. of V., ii. 1. 
It was clear that the artist was some one who must be 
counted with ; . . . but he was reproached with a desire 
to be singular and extraordinary. Encyc. Brit., XIII. 75. 
4. In music, to keep time, or mark the rhythm 
of a piece, by naming the successive pulses, 
accents, or beats. 5. To be of value; be 
worth reckoning or taking into account ; swell 
the number: as, every vote counts. 6. To 
reckon; depend; rely: with on or upon. 
count 
My stay here will be prolonged for a week or two longer, 
and I count upon seeing you again. 
J. E. Cookf, Virginia Comedians, I. xxiii. 
Virtue, when tried, may count upon help, secret re- 
freshings that come in answer to prayer friends provi- 
dentially sent, perhaps guardian angels. 
J. Ii. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 61. 
7. In law, to plead orally; argue a matter in 
court; recite the cause of action To count on 
contract or In tort, to plead a cause of action as arising 
on an agreement or on a wrong. 
count 1 (kount), n. [< ME. counte, < OF. cunte, 
conte, F. compte = Pr. compte, comte = Sp. cu- 
ento, cuenta Pg. conta = It. conto, < LL. com- 
putus, count, reckoning; from the verb.] 1. 
Reckoning; the act of numbering: as, this is 
the number according to my count. 
By my count, 
I was your mother much upon these years 
That you are now a maid. Shak., R. and J., i. 3. 
2. The total number ; the number which rep- 
resents the result of a process of counting ; the 
number signified by the numeral assigned to 
the last unit of a collection in the operation of 
counting it ; the magnitude of a collection as 
determined by counting. 
Of blessed Saints for to increase the count. 
Spenser, Epithalamion, 1. 423. 
His count of years is full, his allotted task is wrought. 
Bryant, Waiting by the Gate. 
3. Account; estimation; value. 
They make no counte of generall councels. 
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 82. 
Some other, that in hard assaies 
Were cowards knowne, and litle taunt did hold. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. x. 18. 
In proportion as the years both lessen and shorten, I 
set more count upon their periods. La/i6,New Year's Eve. 
4. In law, an entire or integral charge in an 
indictment, complaint, or other pleading, set- 
ting forth a cause of complaint. There may be 
different counts in the same pleading. 
Dressing up the virtues of the past, as a count in the in- 
dictment against their own contemporaries. 
Grate, Hist. Greece, II. 17. 
5. In music: (a) Rhythm; regularity of accent 
or pace. (b) The act of reckoning or naming 
the pulses of the rhythm: as, to keep strict 
count, (c) A particular pulse, accent, or beat: 
as, the first count of a measure Count and 
reckoning, the technical name given to a form of process 
in Scots law, by which one party may compel another to 
account with him and to pay the balance which may ap- 
pear to be due. To keep count, to assign numbers in 
regular order to all the individual events or objects of a 
series, one by one, as fast as they occur, 
count 2 (kount), n. [Not in ME. except in fern, 
form countess, q. v. ; < OF. conte, comte, F. 
comte = Pr. corns = Sp. Pg. conde = It. conte, < 
L. comes (comit-), a companion, later a title of 
office or honor (cf . constable), < com-, together, 
+ ire, supine itum, go, =Gr. Utiat, go: see </o.] 
A title of nobility in France, Italy, Spain, and 
Portugal (corresponding to earl in Great Brit- 
ain and graf in Germany), whence the name 
county, originally applied to the demain apper- 
taining to the holder of such a title. Under the 
Roman republic a count was a companion or an assistant of 
a proconsul or propretor in his foreign government ; under 
the empire, an officer of the imperial household, or an at- 
tendant upon the emperor in his official duties, the title 
being ultimately extended to officers of various grades in 
different parts of the empire. Among early Teutonic 
races the count or graf was the officer set by a sovereign 
over a district or gau, charged with the preservation of 
the king's authority. In France, under Charles the Bald, 
a system of government by counts as personal agents of 
the sovereign was developed. Later, with the growth of 
the feudal system, they became the feudal proprietor! of 
lands and territories, and thus not merely royal officers, 
but nobles, and, as such, hereditary rulers. At the pres- 
ent time the title, inherited alike by all the sons of a count 
or conferred by the sovereign, serves merely to indicate 
nobility. As a title, count does not occur in the nomen- 
clature of the English nobility, except as in count pala- 
tine ; but the feminine form countess is the recognized 
feminine equivalent of earl. 
The prince, the count, . . . and all the gallants of the 
town, are come. Shak., Much Ado, iii. 4. 
Shire is a Saxon word signifying a division ; but a county, 
comitatus, is plainly derived from comes, the count of the 
Franks, that is, the earl or alderman (as the Saxons called 
him) of the shire. Blackstone, Com., Int., 4. 
Count palatine, (o) Originally, the judge and highest 
officer of the German kings, afterward of the German 
emperors and archdukes ; at a later date, an officer dele- 
gated by the German emperors to exercise certain im- 
perial privileges, (b) Formerly, in F.ngland, the proprie- 
torof a county, who exercised regal prerogatives within 
his county, ill virtue of which he had his own courts of 
law, appointed judges anil law officers, and could pardon 
murders, treasons, and felonies. All writs and judicial 
processes proceeded in his name, while the kind's writs 
were of no avail within the palatinate. The Earl of 
Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancas- 
ter were the counts palatine of England. The queen is 
now Duchess and Countess Palatine of Lancaster. The 
earldom palatinate of Chester, similarly restricted, is vested 
