1. (Law) A public officer who is invested with authority to hear and determine litigated causes, and to administer justice between parties in courts held for that purpose. [ 1913 Webster ]

The parts of a judge in hearing are four: to direct the evidence; to moderate length, repetition, or impertinency of speech; to recapitulate, select, and collate the material points of that which hath been said; and to give the rule or sentence. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who has skill, knowledge, or experience, sufficient to decide on the merits of a question, or on the quality or value of anything; one who discerns properties or relations with skill and readiness; a connoisseur; an expert; a critic. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man who is no judge of law may be a good judge of poetry, or eloquence, or of the merits of a painting. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A person appointed to decide in a trial of skill, speed, etc., between two or more parties; an umpire; as, a judge in a horse race. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Jewish Hist.) One of the supreme magistrates, with both civil and military powers, who governed Israel for more than four hundred years. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. pl. The title of the seventh book of the Old Testament; the Book of Judges. [ 1913 Webster ]

Judge Advocate (Mil. & Nav.), a person appointed to act as prosecutor at a court-martial; he acts as the representative of the government, as the responsible adviser of the court, and also, to a certain extent, as counsel for the accused, when he has no other counsel. --
Judge-Advocate General, in the United States, the title of two officers, one attached to the War Department and having the rank of brigadier general, the other attached to the Navy Department and having the rank of colonel of marines or captain in the navy. The first is chief of the Bureau of Military Justice of the army, the other performs a similar duty for the navy. In England, the designation of a member of the ministry who is the legal adviser of the secretary of state for war, and supreme judge of the proceedings of courts-martial.

Syn. -- Judge, Umpire, Arbitrator, Referee. A judge, in the legal sense, is a magistrate appointed to determine questions of law. An umpire is a person selected to decide between two or more who contend for a prize. An arbitrator is one chosen to allot to two contestants their portion of a claim, usually on grounds of equity and common sense. A referee is one to whom a case is referred for final adjustment. Arbitrations and references are sometimes voluntary, sometimes appointed by a court. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To hear and determine, as in causes on trial; to decide as a judge; to give judgment; to pass sentence. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord judge between thee and me. Gen. xvi. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

Father, who art judge
Of all things made, and judgest only right! Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To assume the right to pass judgment on another; to sit in judgment or commendation; to criticise or pass adverse judgment upon others. See Judge, v. t., 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To compare facts or ideas, and perceive their relations and attributes, and thus distinguish truth from falsehood; to determine; to discern; to distinguish; to form an opinion about. [ 1913 Webster ]

Judge not according to the appearance. John vii. 24. [ 1913 Webster ]

She is wise if I can judge of her. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To examine and pass sentence on; to try; to doom. [ 1913 Webster ]

God shall judge the righteous and the wicked. Eccl. iii. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bring my whole cause 'fore his holiness,
And to be judged by him. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To arrogate judicial authority over; to sit in judgment upon; to be censorious toward. [ 1913 Webster ]

Judge not, that ye be not judged. Matt. vii. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To determine upon or deliberation; to esteem; to think; to reckon. [ 1913 Webster ]

If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord. Acts xvi. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To exercise the functions of a magistrate over; to govern. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Make us a king to judge us. 1 Sam. viii. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

The law of the 13th century was judge-made law in a fuller and more literal sense than the law of any succeeding century has been. Sir Frederick Pollock. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

1. The act of judging; the operation of the mind, involving comparison and discrimination, by which a knowledge of the values and relations of things, whether of moral qualities, intellectual concepts, logical propositions, or material facts, is obtained; as, by careful judgment he avoided the peril; by a series of wrong judgments he forfeited confidence. [ 1913 Webster ]

I oughte deme, of skilful jugement,
That in the salte sea my wife is deed. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The power or faculty of performing such operations (see 1); esp., when unqualified, the faculty of judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely; good sense; as, a man of judgment; a politician without judgment. [ 1913 Webster ]

He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. Ps. lxxii. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hernia. I would my father look'd but with my eyes.
Theseus. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The conclusion or result of judging; an opinion; a decision. [ 1913 Webster ]

She in my judgment was as fair as you. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who first his judgment asked, and then a place. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The act of determining, as in courts of law, what is conformable to law and justice; also, the determination, decision, or sentence of a court, or of a judge; the mandate or sentence of God as the judge of all. [ 1913 Webster ]

In judgments between rich and poor, consider not what the poor man needs, but what is his own. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Most heartily I do beseech the court
To give the judgment. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Philos.) (a) That act of the mind by which two notions or ideas which are apprehended as distinct are compared for the purpose of ascertaining their agreement or disagreement. See 1. The comparison may be threefold: (1) Of individual objects forming a concept. (2) Of concepts giving what is technically called a judgment. (3) Of two judgments giving an inference. Judgments have been further classed as analytic, synthetic, and identical. (b) That power or faculty by which knowledge dependent upon comparison and discrimination is acquired. See 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

A judgment is the mental act by which one thing is affirmed or denied of another. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The power by which we are enabled to perceive what is true or false, probable or improbable, is called by logicians the faculty of judgment. Stewart. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A calamity regarded as sent by God, by way of recompense for wrong committed; a providential punishment. “Judgments are prepared for scorners.” Prov. xix. 29. “This judgment of the heavens that makes us tremble.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Theol.) The final award; the last sentence. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Judgment, abridgment, acknowledgment, and lodgment are in England sometimes written, judgement, abridgement, acknowledgement, and lodgement. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Judgment is used adjectively in many self-explaining combinations; as, judgment hour; judgment throne. [ 1913 Webster ]

Judgment day (Theol.), the last day, or period when final judgment will be pronounced on the subjects of God's moral government. --
Judgment debt (Law), a debt secured to the creditor by a judge's order. --
Judgment hall, a hall where courts are held. --
Judgment seat, the seat or bench on which judges sit in court; hence, a court; a tribunal. “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Rom. xiv. 10. --
Judgment summons (Law), a proceeding by a judgment creditor against a judgment debtor upon an unsatisfied judgment. [ 1913 Webster ]

Arrest of judgment. (Law) See under Arrest, n. --
Judgment of God, a term formerly applied to extraordinary trials of secret crimes, as by arms and single combat, by ordeal, etc.; it being imagined that God would work miracles to vindicate innocence. See under Ordeal.

Syn. -- Discernment; decision; determination; award; estimate; criticism; taste; discrimination; penetration; sagacity; intelligence; understanding. See Taste. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Inclined to make moral judgements about the behavior of people; -- contrasted with an inclination not to judge the moral qualities of others. Opposite of nonjudgmental. [ Narrower terms: faultfinding(prenominal) ] [ PJC ]