administration

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act or process of administering, especially the management of a government or large institution.
• noun The activity of a government or state in the exercise of its powers and duties.
• noun The executive branch of a government.
• noun The group of people who manage or direct an institution, especially a school or college.
• noun The term of office of an executive officer or body.
• noun Law Management of a trust or estate.
• noun The dispensing, applying, or tendering of something, such as an oath, a sacrament, or medicine.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of administering; direction; management; government of public affairs; the conducting of any office or employment.
• noun The duty or duties of an administrator; specifically, the executive functions of government, consisting in the exercise of all the powers and duties of government, both general and local, which are neither legislative nor judicial.
• noun The body of persons who are intrusted with the execution of laws and the superintendence of public affairs: in particular, in Great Britain, the ministry; in the United States, the President and cabinet, or the President and cabinet during one presidential term: as, Washington's first administration.
• noun Any body of men intrusted with executive or administrative powers.
• noun The period during which an executive officer or a ministry holds office; specifically, in the United States, the period during which the President holds office.
• noun Dispensation; distribution; rendering: as, the administration of justice, of the sacraments, or of grace.
• noun The act of prescribing medically.
• noun The act of tendering or imposing, as an oath.
• noun In law: The management of the estate of an intestate person, or of a testator having no competent executor, under a commission (called letters of administration) from the proper authority. This management consists in collecting debts, paying debts and legacies, and distributing surplus among the next of kin.
• noun In some jurisdictions, the management of the estate of a deceased person by an executor, the corresponding term execution not being in use.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun 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.
• noun 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.
• noun The act of administering, or tendering something to another; dispensation.
• noun The management and disposal, under legal authority, of the estate of an intestate, or of a testator having no competent executor.
• noun The management of an estate of a deceased person by an executor, the strictly corresponding term execution not being in use.
• noun 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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun uncountable 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.
• noun countable A body that administers; the executive part of government; the persons collectively who are entrusted 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.
• noun uncountable The act of administering, or tendering something to another; dispensation.
• noun uncountable, business Management.
• noun uncountable, law, UK An arrangement whereby an insolvent company can continue trading under supervision.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something
• noun the act of governing; exercising authority
• noun the tenure of a president
• noun a method of tending to or managing the affairs of a some group of people (especially the group's business affairs)
• noun the act of administering medication
• noun the act of meting out justice according to the law