Lat In the civil law. A word having various meanings; e. g., an assembly, society, or company; a body of bishops ; an army; a class of men. But the principal idea of the word was that of an association of individuals of the same rank and station, or united for the pursuit of some business or enterprise. Sometimes, a corporation, as in the maxim “tres faciunt collegium” (1 Bl. Comm. 4G9). though the more usual and proper designation of a corporation was “universitas.”