congress

Etymology

From Latin congressum, the past participle of congredior (“I go, come together”), itself from con- + gradior (“I go, step”). The verb is from the noun.

noun

1. (archaic) A coming together of two or more people; a meeting.
   After some little repast, he went to see Democritus […]. The multitude stood gazing round about to see the congress. , New York Review of Books, 2001, p.48
2. A formal gathering or assembly; a conference held to discuss or decide on a specific question.
3. (often capitalized) A legislative body of a state, originally the bicameral legislature of the United States of America.
4. An association, especially one consisting of other associations or representatives of interest groups.
   The National Congress of American Indians
5. (dated) Coitus; sexual intercourse.
   Welsh ponies, I learn from a man who has had much experience with these animals, habitually produce erections and emissions in their stalls; they do not bring their hind quarters up during this process, and they close their eyes, which does not take place when they have congress with mares. 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 (of 6)
6. (countable, collective) A group of baboons; the collective noun for baboons.
   […] the council hall stank like a congress of baboons. 1966, Philip José Farmer, “Riverworld”, in Down in the Black Gang and Others, Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, published 1971, page 79
   2013, Dick Hrebik, Walter Goes to War—WWII, Rolling Meadows, IL: Windy City Publishers, Chapter 7, p. 133, Saw a congress of baboons of all sizes making their way to a mountaintop to spend the night on the rocks and trees there.

verb

1. (intransitive) To assemble together.
2. To meet in a congress.