Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Convention \Con*ven"tion\, n. [L. conventio: cf. F. convention.
   See {Convene}, v. i.]
   1. The act of coming together; the state of being together;
      union; coalition.

            The conventions or associations of several particles
            of matter into bodies of any certain denomination.
                                                  --Boyle.

   2. General agreement or concurrence; arbitrary custom; usage;
      conventionality.

            There are thousands now Such women, but convention
            beats them down.                      --Tennyson.

   3. A meeting or an assembly of persons, esp. of delegates or
      representatives, to accomplish some specific object, --
      civil, social, political, or ecclesiastical.

            He set himself to the making of good laws in a grand
            convention of his nobles.             --Sir R.
                                                  Baker.

            A convention of delegates from all the States, to
            meet in Philadelphia, for the sole and express
            purpose of reserving the federal system, and
            correcting its defects.               --W. Irving.

   4. (Eng. Hist) An extraordinary assembly of the parkiament or
      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.

            Our gratitude is due . . . to the Long Parliament,
            to the Convention, and to William of Orange.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   5. An agreement or contract less formal than, or preliminary
      to, a treaty; an informal compact, as between commanders
      of armies in respect to suspension of hostilities, or
      between states; also, a formal agreement between
      governments or sovereign powers; as, a postal convention
      between two governments.

            This convention, I think from my soul, is nothing
            but a stipulation for national ignominy; a truce
            without a suspension of hostilities.  --Ld. Chatham.

            The convention with the State of Georgia has been
            ratified by their Legislature.        --T.
                                                  Jefferson.

Source : WordNet®

convention
     n 1: a large formal assembly; "political convention"
     2: something regarded as a normative example; "the convention
        of not naming the main character"; "violence is the rule
        not the exception"; "his formula for impressing visitors"
        [syn: {normal}, {pattern}, {rule}, {formula}]
     3: (diplomacy) an international agreement
     4: orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional [syn: {conventionality},
         {conventionalism}] [ant: {unconventionality}]
     5: the act of convening [syn: {convening}]