Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Election
E·lec′tion (ē·lĕk′shŭn), n. [F. élection, L. electio, fr. eligere to choose out. See Elect, a.] 1. The act of choosing; choice; selection.
2. The act of choosing a person to fill an office, or to membership in a society, as by ballot, uplifted hands, or viva voce; as, the election of a president or a mayor.
Corruption in elections is the great enemy of freedom. J. Adams.
3. Power of choosing; free will; liberty to choose or act. "By his own election led to ill." Daniel.
4. Discriminating choice; discernment. [Obs.]
To use men with much difference and election is good. Bacon.
5. (Theol.) Divine choice; predestination of individuals as objects of mercy and salvation; — one of the "five points" of Calvinism.
There is a remnant according to the election of grace. Rom. xi. 5.
6. (Law) The choice, made by a party, of two alternatives, by taking one of which, the chooser is excluded from the other.
7. Those who are elected. [Obs.]
The election hath obtained it. Rom. xi. 7.
To contest an election. See under Contest. — To make one's election, to choose.
He has made his election to walk, in the main, in the old paths. Fitzed. Hall.