quorum
- the number of members of a group or organization required to be present to transact business legally, usually a majority.
- a particularly chosen group.
Origin of quorum
Examples from the Web for quorum
Contemporary Examples
Videos of Quorum: Global LGBT Voices talks and panel discussions will be broadcasted on The Daily Beast in coming months.
Many agencies, such as the NLRB and the FEC, have multimember boards that require a quorum to operate.
When the Democrats saw what was up, a bunch of them took off for Oklahoma, and New Mexico to prevent a quorum vote.
Historical Examples
A majority constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
The Railroad QuestionWilliam Larrabee
Congress was to have assembled, but not a quorum of the members could be collected.
Mr. Speaker, I am paired, but I have voted in order to make a quorum.
The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol 2 (of 2)Harry Furniss
She is the last survivor of the quorum, and is now fast fading into dotage.
Wellborn, who presided, counted a quorum and declared the resolutions adopted.
Robert ToombsPleasant A. Stovall
quorum
- a minimum number of members in an assembly, society, board of directors, etc, required to be present before any valid business can be transactedthe quorum is forty; we don't have a quorum
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for quorum
n.
early 15c., in reference to certain eminent justices of the peace, from Latin quorum "of whom," genitive plural (masc. and neuter; fem. quarum) of qui "who" (see who). The traditional wording of the commission appointing justices of the peace translates as, "We have also assigned you, and every two or more of you (of whom [quoram vos] any one of you the aforesaid A, B, C, D, etc. we will shall be one) our justices to inquire the truth more fully." The justices so-named usually were called the justices of the quorum. Meaning "fixed number of members whose presence is necessary to transact business" is first recorded 1610s.
quorum
The minimum number of members of a committee or legislative body who must be present before business can officially or legally be conducted. In the United States Congress, for example, either house must have a majority (218 in the House of Representatives, 51 in the Senate) to have a quorum.