Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SES'SION, n. [Fr. from L. sessio, from sedeo. See Set.]

1. A sitting or being placed; as, the ascension of Christ and his session at the right hand of God. – Hooker.
2. The actual sitting of a court, council, legislature, &c.; or the actual assembly of the members of these or any similar body for the transaction of business. Thus we say, the court is now in session, meaning that the members are assembled for business.
3. The time, space, or term during which a court, council, legislature and the like, meet daily for business; or the space of time between the first meeting and the prorogation or adjournment. Thus a session of parliament is opened with a speech from the throne, and closed by prorogation. The session of a judicial court is called a term. Thus a court may have two sessions or four sessions usually. The supreme court of the United States has one annual session. The legislatures of most of the states have one annual session only; some have more. The congress of the United States has one only.
4. Sessions, in some of the states, is particularly used for court of justices, held for granting licenses to innkeepers or taverners, for laying out new highways, or altering old ones and the like. Quarter sessions, in England, is a court held once in every quarter, by two justices of the peace, one of whom is of the quorum, for the trial of small felonies and misdemeanors. Sessions of the peace, a court consisting of justices of the peace, held in each county, for inquiring into trespasses, larcenies, forestalling, &c., and in general, for the conservation of the peace. – Laws of New York.