Cŏn'sul, n.

n. [Lat., from consulere, to deliberate, consult, q. v.]

1. (Rom. Antiq.) One of the two chief magistrates of the republic, chosen originally from the patricians, but later from the plebeians also.
2. (Fr. Hist.) One of the three supreme magistrates of France from 1799 to 1804, who were called, respectively, first, second, and third consul.
3. A person commissioned to reside in a foreign country as an agent or representative of a government to protect the rights, commerce, merchants, and seamen of the state, and to aid in any commercial, and sometimes in diplomatic, transactions with such foreign country.

Consul-general. a consul or commercial agent having jurisdiction in several places or over several consuls.