\Ad*min`is*tra"tion\ (?; 277), n. [OE.
administracioun, L. administratio: cf. F. administration.]
1. The act of administering; government of public affairs;
   the service rendered, or duties assumed, in conducting
   affairs; the conducting of any office or employment;
   direction; management.
         His financial administration was of a piece with his
         military administration.              --Macaulay.
2. The executive part of government; the persons collectively
   who are intrusted with the execution of laws and the
   superintendence of public affairs; the chief magistrate
   and his cabinet or council; or the council, or ministry,
   alone, as in Great Britain.
         A mild and popular administration.    --Macaulay.
         The administration has been opposed in parliament.
                                               --Johnson.
3. The act of administering, or tendering something to
   another; dispensation; as, the administration of a
   medicine, of an oath, of justice, or of the sacrament.
4. (Law)
   (a) The management and disposal, under legal authority, of
       the estate of an intestate, or of a testator having no
       competent executor.
   (b) The management of an estate of a deceased person by an
       executor, the strictly corresponding term execution
       not being in use.
{Administration with the will annexed}, administration
   granted where the testator has appointed no executor, or
   where his appointment of an executor for any cause has
   failed, as by death, incompetency, refusal to act, etc.
Syn: Conduct; management; direction; regulation; execution;
     dispensation; distribution.