The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Administration \Ad*min`is*tra"tion\ (?; 277), n. [OE.
   administracioun, L. administratio: cf. F. administration.]
   1. The act of administering; government of public affairs;
      the service rendered, or duties assumed, in conducting
      affairs; the conducting of any office or employment;
      direction; management.
      [1913 Webster]

            His financial administration was of a piece with his
            military administration.              --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The executive part of government; the persons collectively
      who are intrusted with the execution of laws and the
      superintendence of public affairs; the chief magistrate
      and his cabinet or council; or the council, or ministry,
      alone, as in Great Britain.
      [1913 Webster]

            A mild and popular administration.    --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

            The administration has been opposed in parliament.
                                                  --Johnson.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The act of administering, or tendering something to
      another; dispensation; as, the administration of a
      medicine, of an oath, of justice, or of the sacrament.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Law)
      (a) The management and disposal, under legal authority, of
          the estate of an intestate, or of a testator having no
          competent executor.
      (b) The management of an estate of a deceased person by an
          executor, the strictly corresponding term execution
          not being in use.
          [1913 Webster]

   Administration with the will annexed, administration
      granted where the testator has appointed no executor, or
      where his appointment of an executor for any cause has
      failed, as by death, incompetency, refusal to act, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Conduct; management; direction; regulation; execution;
        dispensation; distribution.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

administration
    n 1: a method of tending to or managing the affairs of a some
         group of people (especially the group's business affairs)
         [syn: administration, disposal]
    2: the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a
       body for the purpose of administering something; "he claims
       that the present administration is corrupt"; "the governance
       of an association is responsible to its members"; "he quickly
       became recognized as a member of the establishment" [syn:
       administration, governance, governing body,
       establishment, brass, organization, organisation]
    3: the act of administering medication [syn: administration,
       giving medication]
    4: the tenure of a president; "things were quiet during the
       Eisenhower administration" [syn: presidency, presidential
       term, administration]
    5: the act of governing; exercising authority; "regulations for
       the governing of state prisons"; "he had considerable
       experience of government" [syn: government, governing,
       governance, government activity, administration]
    6: the act of meting out justice according to the law [syn:
       administration, judicature]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

179 Moby Thesaurus words for "administration":
   academic dean, accomplishment, achievement, administering,
   administrator, application, applying, archon, auspices, authority,
   bestowal, board, board of directors, board of regents,
   board of trustees, bureaucracy, cabinet, cadre, care, chancellor,
   charge, chief executive, chief executive officer, civil government,
   claws, clutches, command, command function, commission, completion,
   conduct, control, council, cure, custodianship, custody, dean,
   dean of men, dean of women, decision-making, delivery, direction,
   directorate, directory, disbursal, disbursement, discharge,
   discipline, dispatch, dispensation, dispersion, disposal,
   disposition, distribution, dole, doling, doling out, dominion,
   dosage, dosing, effectuation, empery, empire, enactment, enforcing,
   execution, executive, executive arm, executive committee,
   executive director, executive function, executive hierarchy,
   executive officer, executive secretary, forcing, forcing on,
   form of government, furnishing, giving, giving out, governance,
   governing board, governing body, government, grip, guardianship,
   guidance, hand, handling, hands, headmaster, headmistress,
   hierarchy, higher echelons, higher-ups, implementation,
   infrastructure, interlocking directorate, iron hand, issuance,
   jurisdiction, keeping, magistrate, management, managing director,
   master, meting out, ministry, officer, official, officialdom,
   officiation, oversight, passing around, pastorage, pastorate,
   pastorship, patronage, paying out, performance, perpetration,
   political organization, polity, power, prefect, prelacy,
   prescribing, president, prexy, principal, protectorship, provision,
   provost, raj, rector, regime, regimen, regnancy, regulation, reign,
   rule, ruling class, ruling classes, safe hands, secretary,
   sovereignty, steering committee, stewardship, superintendence,
   supervision, supplying, sway, system of government, talons,
   the Establishment, the administration, the authorities, the brass,
   the executive, the ingroup, the interests, the people upstairs,
   the power elite, the power structure, the top, them, they,
   top brass, transaction, treasurer, tutelage, vice-chancellor,
   vice-president, ward, warden, wardenship, wardship, watch and ward,
   wing



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ADMINISTRATION, trusts. The management of the estate of an intestate, a
minor, a lunatic, an habitual drunkard, or other person who is incapable of
managing his own affairs, entrusted to an administrator or other trustee by
authority of law. In a more confined sense, and in which it will be used in
this article, administration is the management of an intestate's estate, or
of the estate of a testator who, at the time administration was granted, had
no executor.
     2. Administration is granted by a public officer duly authorized to
delegate the trust; he is sometimes called surrogate, judge of probate,
register of wills and for granting letters of administration.  It is to be
granted to such persons as the statutory provisions of the several states
direct. In general the right of administration belongs to him who" has the
right to the venue of the personalty: as if A make his will, and appoint B
his executor, who dies intestate, and C is the legatee of the residue of A's
estate, C has the right of administration cum testamento annexo. 2 Strange,
956; 12 Mod. 437, 306; 1 Jones, 225; 1 Croke. 201; 2 Leo. 55; 1 Vent. 217.
     3. There are several kinds of administrations, besides the usual kind
which gives to the administrator the management of all the personal estate
of the deceased for an unlimited time. Administration durante minore oetate,
administration durante absentia, administration pendente lite,
administration de bonis non, administration cum testamento annexo.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ADMINISTRATION, government. The management of the affairs of the government;
this word is also applied to the persons entrusted with the management of
the public affairs.



The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

ADMINISTRATION, n.  An ingenious abstraction in politics, designed to
receive the kicks and cuffs due to the premier or president.  A man of
straw, proof against bad-egging and dead-catting.