Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Régime
Ré′gime′ (r?′zh?m′), n. [F. See Regimen.] 1. Mode or system of rule or management; character of government, or of the prevailing social system.
I dream . . . of the new régime which is to come. H. Kingsley.
2. (Hydraul.) The condition of a river with respect to the rate of its flow, as measured by the volume of water passing different cross sections in a given time, uniform régime being the condition when the flow is equal and uniform at all the cross sections.
The ancient régime, or Ancien régime [F.], the former political and social system, as distinguished from the modern; especially, the political and social system existing in France before the Revolution of 1789.