senate

Etymology

From Middle English senat, from Old French senat, from Latin senātus (“council of elders; a senate”), from senex (“old”).

noun

1. In some bicameral legislative systems, the upper house or chamber.
2. A group of experienced, respected, wise individuals serving as decision makers or advisors in a political system or in institutional governance, as in a university, and traditionally of advanced age and male.
   Before the Tyrant's throne All night his aged Senate sate. 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam, canto 11, stanza 13, lines 4338-9