congress

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
congress/ˈkɒŋɡres/

▶noun

• 1 a formal meeting or series of meetings between delegates.

• 2 (Congress) a national legislative body, especially that of the US.

• 3 a society or organization.

• 4 formal the action of coming together.

– derivatives
congressional adjective,
congressionally adverb.

– origin ME: from L. congressus, from congredi ‘meet’, from con- ‘together’ + gradi ‘walk’.