Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VIS-I-TA'TION, n. [Fr. from L. visito.]

1. The act of visiting. Nothing but peace and gentle visitation. – Shak.
2. Object of visit. O flowers! / My early visitation and my last. [Unusual.] – Milton.
3. In law, the act of a superior or superintending officer, who visits a corporation, college, church or other house, to examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and see that its laws and regulations are duly observed and executed. In England, the visitation of the diocese belongs to the bishop; parochial visitation belongs peculiarly to the archdeacons. – Cyc.
4. In Scripture, and in a religious sense, the sending of afflictions and distresses on men to punish them for their sins, or to prove them. Hence afflictions, calamities and judgments are called visitations. What will ye do in the day of visitation? Is. x.
5. Communication of divine love; exhibition of divine goodness and mercy . – Hooker.
6. In naval affairs, the act of a naval commander who visits or enters on board of a vessel belonging to another nation, for the purpose of ascertaining its character and object, but without claiming or exercising a right of searching the vessel.