Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Pretorian \Pre*to"ri*an\, a. [L. praetorians: cf. F.
   pr['e]torien.]
   Of or pertaining to a pretor or magistrate; judicial;
   exercised by, or belonging to, a pretor; as, pretorian power
   or authority.

   {Pretorian bands} or {guards}, or {Pretorians} (Rom. Hist.),
      the emperor's bodyguards, instituted by the Emperor
      Augustus in nine cohorts of 1,000 men each.

   {Pretorian gate} (Rom. Antiq.), that one of the four gates in
      a camp which lay next the enemy. --Brande & C.

Pretorian \Pre*to"ri*an\, n.
   A soldier of the pretorian guard.

Source : WordNet®

pretorian
     adj 1: of or relating to a Roman praetor; "praetorial powers" [syn:
             {praetorian}, {praetorial}, {pretorial}]
     2: characteristic of Praetorian soldiers in respect to
        corruption or political venality; "a large praetorian
        bureaucracy filled with ambitious...and often sycophantic
        people makes work and makes trouble"- Arthur M.Schlesinger
        Jr. [syn: {praetorian}]