Of or pertaining to a nation, or a country regarded as a whole: opposed to local or provincial, and in the United States to State: as, national troops, defenses, debt, expenditure, etc.; hence, general; public: as, national interests; the national welfare.Established and maintained by the nation, or by authority of its laws: as, national banks; a national system of education; a national church.Peculiar or common to the whole people of a country: as, national language, customs, or dress; a national trait; a national religion; national pride.Characterized by attachment or devotion to one's own race or country, or its institutions.See assembly.The uame of the popular assembly after the revolution of 1848, and again in 1871 after the fail of the second empire in 1870.According to the Constitution of 1875, the name of the two houses, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, when in joint session.A name sometimes given to the organized militia in some parts of the United States. Abbreviated N. G.