Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Judge \Judge\, n. [OE. juge, OF. & F. juge, fr. OF. jugier, F.
   juger, to judge. See {Judge}, v. i.]
   1. (Law) A public officer who is invested with authority to
      hear and determine litigated causes, and to administer
      justice between parties in courts held for that purpose.

            The parts of a judge in hearing are four: to direct
            the evidence; to moderate length, repetition, or
            impertinency of speech; to recapitulate, select, and
            collate the material points of that which hath been
            said; and to give the rule or sentence. --Bacon.

   2. One who has skill, knowledge, or experience, sufficient to
      decide on the merits of a question, or on the quality or
      value of anything; one who discerns properties or
      relations with skill and readiness; a connoisseur; an
      expert; a critic.

            A man who is no judge of law may be a good judge of
            poetry, or eloquence, or of the merits of a
            painting.                             --Dryden.

   3. A person appointed to decide in a?trial of skill, speed,
      etc., between two or more parties; an umpire; as, a judge
      in a horse race.

   4. (Jewish Hist.) One of supreme magistrates, with both civil
      and military powers, who governed Israel for more than
      four hundred years.

   5. pl. The title of the seventh book of the Old Testament;
      the Book of Judges.

   {Judge Advocate} (Mil. & Nav.), a person appointed to act as
      prosecutor at a court-martial; he acts as the
      representative of the government, as the responsible
      adviser of the court, and also, to a certain extent, as
      counsel for the accused, when he has no other counsel.

   {Judge-Advocate General}, in the United States, the title of
      two officers, one attached to the War Department and
      having the rank of brigadier general, the other attached
      to the Navy Department and having the rank of colonel of
      marines or captain in the navy. The first is chief of the
      Bureau of Military Justice of the army, the other performs
      a similar duty for the navy. In England, the designation
      of a member of the ministry who is the legal adviser of
      the secretary of state for war, and supreme judge of the
      proceedings of courts-martial.

   Syn: {Judge}, {Umpire}, {Arbitrator}, {Referee}.

   Usage: A judge, in the legal sense, is a magistrate appointed
          to determine questions of law. An umpire is a person
          selected to decide between two or more who contend for
          a prize. An arbitrator is one chosen to allot to two
          contestants their portion of a claim, usually on
          grounds of equity and common sense. A referee is one
          to whom a case is referred for final adjustment.
          Arbitrations and references are sometimes voluntary,
          sometimes appointed by a court.