COUNSEL, n. [L., to consult; to ask, to assail.]

1. Advice; opinion, or instruction, given upon request or otherwise, for directing the judgment or conduct of another; opinion given upon deliberation or consultation. Every purpose is established by counsel. – Prov. xx. Thou hast not hearkened to my counsel. – 2 Chron. xxv.
2. Consultation; interchange of opinions. We took sweet counsel together. – Ps. lv.
3. Deliberation; examination of consequences. They all confess that, in the working of that first cause, counsel is used, reason followed, and a way observed. – Hooker.
4. Prudence; deliberate opinion or judgment, or the faculty or habit of judging with caution. O how comely is the wisdom of old men, and understanding and counsel to men of honor. – Ecclus. xxv. The law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. – Ezek. vii.
5. In a bad sense, evil advice or designs; art; machination. The counsel of the froward is carried headlong. – Job. v.
6. Secrecy; the secrets intrusted in consultation; secret opinions or purposes. Let a man keep his own counsel.
7. In a Scriptural sense, purpose; design; will; decree. What thy counsel determined before to be done. – Acts iv. To show the immutability of his counsel. – Heb. vi.
8. Directions of God's word. Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel. – Ps. lxxiii.
9. The will of God or his truth and doctrines concerning the way of salvation. I have not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God. – Acts xx.
10. Those who give counsel in law; any counselor or advocate, or any number of counselors, barristers or sergeants; as, the plaintif's counsel, or the defendant's counsel. The attorney-general and solicitor-general are the king's counsel. In this sense the word has no plural; but in the singular number, is applicable to one or more persons.

1. To give advice or deliberate opinion to another for the government of his conduct; to advise. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. – Rev. iii.
2. To exhort, warn, admonish, or instruct. We ought frequently to counsel our children against the vices of the age. They that will not be counseled, cannot be helped. – Franklin.
3. To advise or recommend; as, to counsel a crime. [Not much used.] – Dryden.

1. Interchange of opinions; mutual advising; consultation.
   
   

   All the chief priest and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus, to put him to death.
   Matt. xxvii. 1.

2. To give advice to] to advice, admonish, or instruct, as a person.
   
   

   Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you
   To leave this place.
   Shak.

3. Examination of consequences; exercise of deliberate judgment; prudence.
   
   

   They all confess, therefore, in the working of that first cause, that counsel is used.
   Hooker.

4. To advise or recommend, as an act or course.
   
   

   They who counsel war.
   Milton.

   Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb,
   Counseled ignoble ease and peaceful sloth.
   Milton.

5. Result of consultation; advice; instruction.
   
   

   I like thy counsel; well hast thou advised.
   Shak.

   It was ill counsel had misled the girl.
   Tennyson.

6. Deliberate purpose; design; intent; scheme; plan.
   
   

   The counsel of the Lord standeth forever.
   Ps. xxxiii. 11.

   The counsels of the wicked are deceit.
   Prov. xii. 5.

7. A secret opinion or purpose; a private matter.
   
   

   Thilke lord . . . to whom no counsel may be hid.
   Gower.

8. One who gives advice, especially in legal matters; one professionally engaged in the trial or management of a cause in court; also, collectively, the legal advocates united in the management of a case; as, the defendant has able counsel.
   
   

   The King found his counsel as refractory as his judges.
   Macaulay.

   * In some courts a distinction is observed between the attorney and the counsel in a cause, the former being employed in the management of the more mechanical parts of the suit, the latter in attending to the pleadings, managing the cause at the trial, and in applying the law to the exigencies of the case during the whole progress of the suit. In other courts the same person can exercise the powers of each. See Attorney. Kent.

   In counsel, in secret. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- To keep counsel, or To keep one's own counsel, to keep one's thoughts, purposes, etc., undisclosed.

   The players can not keep counsel: they 'll tell all.
   Shak.

   Syn. -- Advice; consideration; consultation; purpose; scheme; opinion.