The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Judge \Judge\ (j[u^]j), n. [OE. juge, OF. & F. juge, fr. OF.
   jugier, F. juger, to judge. See Judge, v. i.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. (Law) A public officer who is invested with authority to
      hear and determine litigated causes, and to administer
      justice between parties in courts held for that purpose.
      [1913 Webster]

            The parts of a judge in hearing are four: to direct
            the evidence; to moderate length, repetition, or
            impertinency of speech; to recapitulate, select, and
            collate the material points of that which hath been
            said; and to give the rule or sentence. --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One who has skill, knowledge, or experience, sufficient to
      decide on the merits of a question, or on the quality or
      value of anything; one who discerns properties or
      relations with skill and readiness; a connoisseur; an
      expert; a critic.
      [1913 Webster]

            A man who is no judge of law may be a good judge of
            poetry, or eloquence, or of the merits of a
            painting.                             --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A person appointed to decide in a trial of skill, speed,
      etc., between two or more parties; an umpire; as, a judge
      in a horse race.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Jewish Hist.) One of the supreme magistrates, with both
      civil and military powers, who governed Israel for more
      than four hundred years.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. pl. The title of the seventh book of the Old Testament;
      the Book of Judges.
      [1913 Webster]

   Judge Advocate (Mil. & Nav.), a person appointed to act as
      prosecutor at a court-martial; he acts as the
      representative of the government, as the responsible
      adviser of the court, and also, to a certain extent, as
      counsel for the accused, when he has no other counsel.

   Judge-Advocate General, in the United States, the title of
      two officers, one attached to the War Department and
      having the rank of brigadier general, the other attached
      to the Navy Department and having the rank of colonel of
      marines or captain in the navy. The first is chief of the
      Bureau of Military Justice of the army, the other performs
      a similar duty for the navy. In England, the designation
      of a member of the ministry who is the legal adviser of
      the secretary of state for war, and supreme judge of the
      proceedings of courts-martial.

   Syn: Judge, Umpire, Arbitrator, Referee.

   Usage: A judge, in the legal sense, is a magistrate appointed
          to determine questions of law. An umpire is a person
          selected to decide between two or more who contend for
          a prize. An arbitrator is one chosen to allot to two
          contestants their portion of a claim, usually on
          grounds of equity and common sense. A referee is one
          to whom a case is referred for final adjustment.
          Arbitrations and references are sometimes voluntary,
          sometimes appointed by a court.
          [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Judge \Judge\, v. t.
   1. To hear and determine by authority, as a case before a
      court, or a controversy between two parties. "Chaos
      [shall] judge the strife." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To examine and pass sentence on; to try; to doom.
      [1913 Webster]

            God shall judge the righteous and the wicked.
                                                  --Eccl. iii.
                                                  7.
      [1913 Webster]

            To bring my whole cause 'fore his holiness,
            And to be judged by him.              --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To arrogate judicial authority over; to sit in judgment
      upon; to be censorious toward.
      [1913 Webster]

            Judge not, that ye be not judged.     --Matt. vii.
                                                  1.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To determine upon or deliberation; to esteem; to think; to
      reckon.
      [1913 Webster]

            If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord.
                                                  --Acts xvi.
                                                  15.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To exercise the functions of a magistrate over; to govern.
      [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Make us a king to judge us.           --1 Sam. viii.
                                                  5.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Judge \Judge\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Judged (j[u^]jd); p. pr. &
   vb. n. Judging.] [OE. jugen, OF. jugier, F. juger, L.
   judicare, fr. judex judge; jus law or right + dicare to
   proclaim, pronounce, akin to dicere to say. See Just, a.,
   and Diction, and cf. Judicial.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To hear and determine, as in causes on trial; to decide as
      a judge; to give judgment; to pass sentence.
      [1913 Webster]

            The Lord judge between thee and me.   --Gen. xvi. 5.
      [1913 Webster]

            Father, who art judge
            Of all things made, and judgest only right!
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To assume the right to pass judgment on another; to sit in
      judgment or commendation; to criticise or pass adverse
      judgment upon others. See Judge, v. t., 3.
      [1913 Webster]

            Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To compare facts or ideas, and perceive their relations
      and attributes, and thus distinguish truth from falsehood;
      to determine; to discern; to distinguish; to form an
      opinion about.
      [1913 Webster]

            Judge not according to the appearance. --John vii.
                                                  24.
      [1913 Webster]

            She is wise if I can judge of her.    --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

judge
    n 1: a public official authorized to decide questions brought
         before a court of justice [syn: judge, justice,
         jurist]
    2: an authority who is able to estimate worth or quality [syn:
       evaluator, judge]
    v 1: determine the result of (a competition)
    2: form a critical opinion of; "I cannot judge some works of
       modern art"; "How do you evaluate this grant proposal?" "We
       shouldn't pass judgment on other people" [syn: evaluate,
       pass judgment, judge]
    3: judge tentatively or form an estimate of (quantities or
       time); "I estimate this chicken to weigh three pounds" [syn:
       estimate, gauge, approximate, guess, judge]
    4: pronounce judgment on; "They labeled him unfit to work here"
       [syn: pronounce, label, judge]
    5: put on trial or hear a case and sit as the judge at the trial
       of; "The football star was tried for the murder of his wife";
       "The judge tried both father and son in separate trials"
       [syn: judge, adjudicate, try]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

160 Moby Thesaurus words for "judge":
   account, account as, act between, adjudge, adjudicate, adjudicator,
   administer, administer justice, administrate, allow, amateur,
   appraise, appraiser, appreciate, approximate, arbiter,
   arbiter elegantiarum, arbiter of taste, arbitrate, arbitrator,
   assess, assume, authority, bargain, be afraid, be judicious, beak,
   believe, bon vivant, call, charge the jury, check, cognoscente,
   collect, collector, conceive, conciliator, conclude,
   conduct a trial, conjecture, connaisseur, connoisseur, consider,
   count, court, critic, daresay, decide, decree, deduce, deduct,
   deem, deemster, demonstrate, dempster, derive, determine,
   dilettante, draw, epicure, epicurean, esteem, estimate, evaluate,
   evaluator, exercise judgment, expect, expert, express an opinion,
   fancy, find, form an opinion, gather, go between, good judge,
   gourmand, gourmet, guess, have a hunch, have an idea,
   have an impression, have an inkling, have the idea, hear, hold,
   hold as, imagine, impartial arbitrator, infer, intercede,
   intermediary, intermediate, interpose, intervene, judger,
   judicator, jurist, justice, look upon as, magistrate, maintain,
   make, make out, make terms, maven, measure, mediate, mediator,
   meet halfway, moderate, moderator, negotiate, negotiator, opine,
   pass sentence, peacemaker, pine, place, preside, presume,
   pronounce sentence, prove, put, rate, reckon, reconciler, referee,
   refined palate, regard, represent, review, reviewer, rule,
   set down as, settle, show, sit in judgment, size up, step in,
   suppose, surmise, suspect, take, take for, take it, test, think,
   think of, third party, treat with, trow, try, try a case, umpire,
   unbiased observer, value, view as, virtuoso, ween, weigh



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Judge
   (Heb. shophet, pl. shophetim), properly a magistrate or ruler,
   rather than one who judges in the sense of trying a cause. This
   is the name given to those rulers who presided over the affairs
   of the Israelites during the interval between the death of
   Joshua and the accession of Saul (Judg. 2:18), a period of
   general anarchy and confusion. "The office of judges or regents
   was held during life, but it was not hereditary, neither could
   they appoint their successors. Their authority was limited by
   the law alone, and in doubtful cases they were directed to
   consult the divine King through the priest by Urim and Thummim
   (Num. 27:21). Their authority extended only over those tribes by
   whom they had been elected or acknowledged. There was no income
   attached to their office, and they bore no external marks of
   dignity. The only cases of direct divine appointment are those
   of Gideon and Samson, and the latter stood in the peculiar
   position of having been from before his birth ordained 'to begin
   to deliver Israel.' Deborah was called to deliver Israel, but
   was already a judge. Samuel was called by the Lord to be a
   prophet but not a judge, which ensued from the high gifts the
   people recognized as dwelling in him; and as to Eli, the office
   of judge seems to have devolved naturally or rather ex officio
   upon him." Of five of the judges, Tola (Judg. 10:1), Jair (3),
   Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8-15), we have no record at all
   beyond the bare fact that they were judges. Sacred history is
   not the history of individuals but of the kingdom of God in its
   onward progress.

     In Ex. 2:14 Moses is so styled. This fact may indicate that
   while for revenue purposes the "taskmasters" were over the
   people, they were yet, just as at a later time when under the
   Romans, governed by their own rulers.


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

JUDGE. A public officer, lawfully appointed to decide litigated questions
according to law. This, in its most extensive sense, includes all officers
who are appointed to decide such questions, and not only judges properly so
called, but also justices of the peace, and jurors, who are judges of the
facts in issue. See 4 Dall. 229; 3 Yeates, IR. 300. In a more limited sense,
the term judge signifies an officer who is so named in his commission, and
who presides in some court.
     2. Judges are appointed or elected, in a variety of ways, in the United
States they are appointed by the president, by and with the consent of the
senate; in some of the states they are appointed by the governor, the
governor and senate, or by the legislature. In the United States, and some
of the states, they hold their offices during good behaviour; in others, as
in New York, during, good behaviour, or until they shall attain a certain
age and in others for a limited term of years.
     3. Impartiality is the first duty of a judge; before he gives an
opinion, or sits in judgment in a cause, he ought to be certain that he has
no bias for or against either of the parties; and if he has any (the
slightest) interest in the cause, he is disqualified from sitting as judge;
aliquis non debet esse judex in propria causa; 8 Co. 118; 21 Pick. Rep. 101;
5 Mass. 92; 13 Mass. 340; 6 Pick. R. 109; 14 S. & R. 157-8; and when he is
aware of such interest, he ought himself to refuse to sit on the case. It
seems it is discretionary with him whether he will sit in a cause in which
he has been of counsel. 2 Marsh. 517; Coxe, 164; see 2 Binn. 454. But the
delicacy which characterizes the judges in this country, generally, forbids
their sitting in such a cause.
     4. He must not only be impartial, but he must follow and enforce the
law, whether good or bad. He is bound to declare what the law is, and not
to make it; he is not an arbitrator, but an interpreter of the law. It is
his duty to be patient in the investigation of the case, careful in
considering it, and firm in his judgment. He ought, according to Cicero,
"never to lose sight that he is a man, and that he cannot exceed the power
given him by his commission; that not only power, but public confidence has
been given to him; that he ought always seriously to attend not to his
wishes but to the requisitions of law, of justice and religion." Cic. pro.
Cluentius. A curious case of judicial casuistry is stated by Aulus Gellius
Att. Noct. lib: 14, cap. 2, which may be interesting to the reader.
     5. While acting within the bounds of his jurisdiction, the judge is hot
responsible for any error of judgment, nor mistake he may commit as a judge.
Co. Litt. 294; 2 Inst. 422; 2 Dall. R. 160; 1 Yeates, R. 443; N. & M'C. 168;
1 Day, R. 315; 1 Root, R. 211; 3 Caines, R. 170; 5 John. R. 282; 9 John. R.
395; 11 John. R. 150; 3 Marsh. R. 76; 1 South. R. 74; 1 N. H. Rep. 374; 2
Bay, 1, 69; 8 Wend. 468; 3 Marsh. R. 76,. When he acts corruptly, he may be
impeached. 5 John. R. 282; 8 Cowen, R. 178; 4 Dall. R. 225.
     6. A judge is not competent as a witness in a cause trying before him,
for this, among other reasons, that he can hardly be deemed capable of
impartially deciding on the admissibility of his own testimony, or of
weighing. it against that of another.  Martin's R. N. S. 312. Vide, Com.
Dig. Courts, B 4, C 2, E 1, P 16 justices, 1 1, 2, and 3; 14 Vin. Ab. 573;
Bac. Ab. Courts, &c., B; 1 Kent, Com. 291; Ayl. Parerg. 309; Story, Const.
Index, h.t. See U. S. Dig. Courts, I, where will be found an abstract of
various decisions relating to the appointment and powers of judges in
different states. Vide Equality; Incompetency.;