Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CON-VEN'TION, n. [L. conventio. See Convene.]

1. The act of coming together; a meeting of several persons or individuals. – Boyle.
2. Union; coalition.
3. An assembly. In this sense, the word includes any formal meeting or collection of men for civil or ecclesiastical purposes; particularly an assembly of delegates or representatives for consultation on important concerns, civil, political, or ecclesiastical. In Great Britain, convention is the name given to an extraordinary assembly of the estates of the realm, held without the king's writ; as the assembly which restored Charles II. to the throne, and that which declared the throne to be abdicated by James II. In the United States, this name is given to the assembly of representatives which forms a constitution of government, or political association; as, the convention which formed the constitution of the United States in 1787.
4. An agreement or contract between two parties, as between the commanders of two armies; an agreement previous to a definitive treaty.