Definition of visitation
- n. - The act of visiting, or the state of being visited;
access for inspection or examination.
- n. - Specifically: The act of a superior or superintending
officer who, in the discharge of his office, visits a corporation,
college, etc., to examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and
see that its laws and regulations are duly observed and executed; as,
the visitation of a diocese by a bishop.
- n. - The object of a visit.
- n. - The act of a naval commander who visits, or enters on
board, a vessel belonging to another nation, for the purpose of
ascertaining her character and object, but without claiming or
exercising a right of searching the vessel. It is, however, usually
coupled with the right of search (see under Search), visitation being
used for the purpose of search.
- n. - Special dispensation; communication of divine favor and
goodness, or, more usually, of divine wrath and vengeance; retributive
calamity; retribution; judgment.
- n. - A festival in honor of the visit of the Virgin Mary to
Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist, celebrated on the second of
July.