INAUGURATION

INAUGURATION. This word was applied by the Romans to the ceremony of dedicating some temple, or raising some man to the priesthood, after the augurs had been consulted. It was afterwards applied to the installation (q. v.) of the emperors, kings, and prelates, in imitation of the ceremonies of the Romans when they entered into the temple of the augurs. It is applied in the United States to the installation of the chief magistrate of the republic, and of the governors of the several states.