Emily Dickinson Lexicon

JUDGE, n. [Fr. juge; Sp. juez; Port. juiz; It. giudice; L. judex, supposed to be compounded of jus, law or right, and dico, to pronounce. “Hinc judex, quod jus dicat accepta potestate.” Varro.]

1. A civil officer who is invested with authority to hear and determine causes, civil or criminal, between parties, according to his commission; as, the judges of the king's bench, or of the common pleas; judges of the supreme court, of district courts, or of a county court. The judge of a court of equity is called a chancellor.
2. The Supreme Being. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? – Gen. xviii.
3. One who presides in a court of judicature.
4. One who has skill to decide on the merits of a question, or on the value of any thing; one who can discern truth and propriety. A man who is no judge of law, may be a good judge of poetry or eloquence, or of the merits of a painting. – Dryden.
5. In the history of Israel, a chief magistrate, with civil and military powers. The Israelites were governed by judges more than three hundred years, and the history of their transactions is called the book of judges.
6. A juryman or juror. In criminal suits, the jurors are judges of the law as well as of the fact.