Found 2 items, similar to pretorian.
English → English (WordNet) Definition: pretorian pretorian adj 1: of or relating to a Roman praetor; “praetorial powers” [syn: praetorian, praetorial, pretorial] 2: characteristic of Praetorian soldiers in respect to corruption or political venality; “a large praetorian bureaucracy filled with ambitious...and often sycophantic people makes work and makes trouble”- Arthur M.Schlesinger Jr. [syn: praetorian]
English → English (gcide) Definition: Pretorian Pretorian \Pre*to"ri*an\, a. [L. praetorians: cf. F. pr['e]torien.] Of or pertaining to a pretor or magistrate; judicial; exercised by, or belonging to, a pretor; as, pretorian power or authority. [1913 Webster] Pretorian bands or Pretorian guards, or Pretorians (Rom. 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. [1913 Webster] Pretorian \Pre*to"ri*an\, n. A soldier of the pretorian guard. [1913 Webster]