suffrage
    n 1: a legal right guaranteed by the 15th amendment to the US
         Constitution; guaranteed to women by the 19th amendment;
         "American women got the vote in 1920" [syn: right to
         vote, vote, suffrage]

Suffrage \Suf"frage\, n. [F., fr. L. suffragium; perhaps
   originally, a broken piece, a potsherd, used in voting, and
   fr. sub under + the root of frangere to break. See Break.]
   1. A vote given in deciding a controverted question, or in
      the choice of a man for an office or trust; the formal
      expression of an opinion; assent; vote.
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            I ask your voices and your suffrages. --Shak.
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   2. Testimony; attestation; witness; approval.
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            Lactantius and St. Austin confirm by their suffrage
            the observation made by heathen writers.
                                                  --Atterbury.
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            Every miracle is the suffrage of Heaven to the truth
            of a doctrine.                        --South.
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   3. (Eccl.)
      (a) A short petition, as those after the creed in matins
          and evensong.
      (b) A prayer in general, as one offered for the faithful
          departed. --Shipley.
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                I firmly believe that there is a purgatory, and
                that the souls therein detained are helped by
                the suffrages of the faithful.    --Creed of
                                                  Pope Pius IV.
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   4. Aid; assistance. [A Latinism] [Obs.]
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   5. The right to vote; franchise.
      [PJC]

Suffrage \Suf"frage\, v. t.
   To vote for; to elect. [Obs.] --Milton.
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SUFFRAGE, government. Vote; the act of voting. 
     2. The right of suffrage is given by the constitution of the United 
States, art. 1, s. 2, to the electors in each state, as shall have the 
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the 
state legislature. Vide 2 Story on the Const. Sec. 578, et seq.; Amer. 
Citiz. 201; 1 Bl. Com. 171; 2 Wils. Lect. 130; Montesq. Esp. des Lois, Ii v. 
11, c. 6; 1 Tucker's Bl. Com. App. 52, 3. See Division of opinion. 

SUFFRAGE, n.  Expression of opinion by means of a ballot.  The right
of suffrage (which is held to be both a privilege and a duty) means,
as commonly interpreted, the right to vote for the man of another
man's choice, and is highly prized.  Refusal to do so has the bad name
of "incivism."  The incivilian, however, cannot be properly arraigned
for his crime, for there is no legitimate accuser.  If the accuser is
himself guilty he has no standing in the court of opinion; if not, he
profits by the crime, for A's abstention from voting gives greater
weight to the vote of B.  By female suffrage is meant the right of a
woman to vote as some man tells her to.  It is based on female
responsibility, which is somewhat limited.  The woman most eager to
jump out of her petticoat to assert her rights is first to jump back
into it when threatened with a switching for misusing them.