meaning of visitation
1. The act of visiting, or the state of being visited; access for inspection or examination.
2. Specifically: The act of a superior or superintending officer who, in the discharge of his office, visits a corporation, college, etc. , to examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and see that its laws and regulations are duly observed and executed; as, the visitation of a diocese by a bishop.
3. The object of a visit.
4. The act of a naval commander who visits, or enters on board, a vessel belonging to another nation, for the purpose of ascertaining her character and object, but without claiming or exercising a right of searching the vessel. It is, however, usually coupled with the right of search (see under Search), visitation being used for the purpose of search.
5. Special dispensation; communication of divine favor and goodness, or, more usually, of divine wrath and vengeance; retributive calamity; retribution; judgment.
6. A festival in honor of the visit of the Virgin Mary to Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist, celebrated on the second of July.
7. an official visit for inspection or supervision; "the commissioner made visitations to all the precinct stations"; "the recent visitation of the bishop to his
">diocese"
Related Words
visitation | visitation rights |
