D defs.my
Entry 5 senses Webster, 1913

Mandate

/măn'-dātˌ/ · Man·date · IPA /ˈmændeɪt/
01 n. An official or authoritative command, order, or authorization from a superior official to a subordinate; an order or injunction; a commissi…
  1. 1.
    An official or authoritative command, order, or authorization from a superior official to a subordinate; an order or injunction; a commission; a judicial precept.
    “This dream all-powerful Juno; I bear Her mighty mandates, and her words you hear.” Dryden.
  2. 2.
    An authorization to carry out a specific public policy, given by the electorate to their representatives; -- it is considered to be implied by the election of a candidate by a significant margin after that candidate has campaigned with that policy as a prominent element of the campaign platform.(Politics)
  3. 3.
    Authorization by a multinational body to a nation to administer the government and affairs of a territory, usually a former colony; as, termination of the British mandate in Palestine.
  4. 4.
    A rescript of the pope, commanding an ordinary collator to put the person therein named in possession of the first vacant benefice in his collation.(Canon Law)
  5. 5.
    A contract by which one employs another to manage any business for him. By the Roman law, it must have been gratuitous.(Scots Law)