(1):

(n.) An assembly of persons; a gathering; esp. an assembly of persons met for the worship of God, and for religious instruction; a body of people who habitually so meet.

(2):

(n.) The act of congregating, or bringing together, or of collecting into one aggregate or mass.

(3):

(n.) A collection or mass of separate things.

(4):

(n.) The whole body of the Jewish people; - called also Congregation of the Lord.

(5):

(n.) A body of cardinals or other ecclesiastics to whom as intrusted some department of the church business; as, the Congregation of the Propaganda, which has charge of the missions of the Roman Catholic Church.

(6):

(n.) A company of religious persons forming a subdivision of a monastic order.

(7):

(n.) The assemblage of Masters and Doctors at Oxford or Cambrige University, mainly for the granting of degrees.

(8):

(n.) the name assumed by the Protestant party under John Knox. The leaders called themselves (1557) Lords of the Congregation.