Palatinate

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. Either of two historical districts and former states of southern Germany. The Lower Palatinate is in southwest Germany between Luxembourg and the Rhine River; the Upper Palatinate is to the east in eastern Bavaria. They were once under the jurisdiction of the counts palatine, who became electors of the Holy Roman Empire in 1356 and were then known as electors palatine.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The office or dignity of a palatine; the province or dominion of a palatine. Specifically [capitalized], in German history, formerly an electorate of the empire, consisting of the Lower or Rhine Palatinate, and the Upper Palatinate, whose capital was Amberg. Abont 1620 these were separated, the Upper Palatinate and the electoral vote passing to Bavaria. while a new electorate was created later for the Palatinate. In 1777 the two were reunited; in consequence of the treaties of Lunéville (1801) and of Paris (1814-15), Bavaria retained the Upper Palatinate and a portion of the Lower Palatinate west of the Rhine, while the remainder of the Lower Palatinate was divided among Baden, Hesse, Prussia, etc. The Bavarian portions now form the governmental districts of Palatinate and Upper Palatinate.

Wiktionary

1. n. A historical region of Germany, originally a territory of the Holy Roman Empire

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The province or seigniory of a palatine; the dignity of a palatine.
2. n. Either of two regions in Germany, formerly divisions of the Holy Roman Empire; the Lower Palatinate or Rhine Palatinate is now within the Rhineland-Palatinate; the Upper Palatinate is now within Bavaria. It is usually referred to as the Palatinate.
3. v. obsolete To make a palatinate of.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a territory in southwestern Germany formerly ruled by the counts palatine
2. n. a territory under the jurisdiction of a count palatine