Category:Pretorian

Pre*to"ri*an, a. Etym: [l. praetorians: cf. F. prétorien.]

Defn: 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 (Roman 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.

Defn: a soldier of the pretorian guard.