faculty — ODE

faculty /ˈfaklti

▸ noun

(plural faculties)

1 an inherent mental or physical power:

her critical faculties

the faculty of sight.

▪ an aptitude for doing something:

his faculty for taking the initiative.

2 a group of university departments concerned with a major division of knowledge:

the Faculty of Arts

the law faculty.

▪ [in singular] the teaching or research staff of a group of university departments viewed as a body:

there were then no tenured women on the faculty.

▪ dated the members of a particular profession, especially medicine, considered collectively.

3 a licence or authorization from a Church authority:

the vicar introduced certain ornaments without the necessary faculty to do so.

– ORIGIN late Middle English: from Old French faculte, from Latin facultas, from facilis ‘easy’, from facere ‘make, do’.