Committee

n. [From commit; Fr. comité.] One or more persons elected or appointed, to whom any matter or business is referred, either by a legislative body, or by a court, or by any collective body of men acting together.

☞ A legislative body often resolves or forms itself into a committee, called a committee of the whole house, in which case the speaker leaves the chair, and one of the members acts as chairman.

n. (Law.) One to whom the charge of the person or estate of another, as of a lunatic, is committed by suitable authority; a guardian.