Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Consistory \Con*sis"to*ry\ (? or ?; 277) n.; pl. {Consistories}.
   [L. consistorium a place of assembly, the place where the
   emperor's council met, fr. consistere: cf. F. consistoire,
   It. consistorio. See {Consist}.]
   1. Primarily, a place of standing or staying together; hence,
      any solemn assembly or council.

            To council summons all his mighty peers, Within
            thick clouds and dark tenfold involved, A gloomy
            consistory.                           --Milton.

   2. (Eng. Ch.) The spiritual court of a diocesan bishop held
      before his chancellor or commissioner in his cathedral
      church or elsewhere. --Hook.

   3. (R. C. Ch.) An assembly of prelates; a session of the
      college of cardinals at Rome.

            Pius was then hearing of causes in consistory.
                                                  --Bacon.

   4. A church tribunal or governing body.

   Note: In some churches, as the Dutch Reformed in America, a
         consistory is composed of the minister and elders of an
         individual church, corresponding to a Presbyterian
         church session, and in others, as the Reformed church
         in France, it is composed of ministers and elders,
         corresponding to a presbytery. In some Lutheran
         countries it is a body of clerical and lay officers
         appointed by the sovereign to superintend
         ecclesiastical affairs.

   5. A civil court of justice. [Obs.] --Chaucer.