The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Government \Gov"ern*ment\, n. [F. gouvernement. See Govern.]
   1. The act of governing; the exercise of authority; the
      administration of laws; control; direction; regulation;
      as, civil, church, or family government.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The mode of governing; the system of polity in a state;
      the established form of law.
      [1913 Webster]

            That free government which we have so dearly
            purchased, free commonwealth.         --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The right or power of governing; authority.
      [1913 Webster]

            I here resign my government to thee.  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The person or persons authorized to administer the laws;
      the ruling power; the administration.
      [1913 Webster]

            When we, in England, speak of the government, we
            generally understand the ministers of the crown for
            the time being.                       --Mozley & W.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. The body politic governed by one authority; a state; as,
      the governments of Europe.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. Management of the limbs or body. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. (Gram.) The influence of a word in regard to construction,
      requiring that another word should be in a particular
      case.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

government
    n 1: the organization that is the governing authority of a
         political unit; "the government reduced taxes"; "the matter
         was referred to higher authorities" [syn: government,
         authorities, regime]
    2: 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]
    3: (government) the system or form by which a community or other
       political unit is governed; "tyrannical government"
    4: the study of government of states and other political units
       [syn: politics, political science, government]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

136 Moby Thesaurus words for "government":
   Geopolitik, John Bull, Kreis, Uncle Sam, Washington, Whitehall,
   administration, archbishopric, archdiocese, arrondissement,
   auspices, authority, bailiwick, bishopric, borough, canton, care,
   charge, city, civics, claws, clutches, command, commune, conduct,
   congressional district, constablewick, control, county, cure,
   custodianship, custody, departement, diocese, direction,
   disposition, district, domination, dominion, duchy,
   electoral district, electorate, empery, empire, geopolitics,
   governance, grip, guardianship, guidance, hamlet, hand, handling,
   hands, hundred, husbandry, international relations, iron hand,
   jurisdiction, keeping, lead, leading, magistracy, management,
   managery, managing, manipulation, metropolis, metropolitan area,
   ministry, oblast, okrug, ordering, oversight, parish, pastorage,
   pastorate, pastorship, patronage, pilotage, poli-sci,
   political behavior, political economy, political geography,
   political philosophy, political science, political theory,
   politics, power, precinct, principality, protectorship, province,
   public administration, raj, regime, region, regnancy, regulation,
   reign, riding, rule, running, safe hands, sheriffalty, sheriffwick,
   shire, shrievalty, soke, sovereignty, stake, state, steerage,
   steering, stewardship, superintendence, supervision, sway, talons,
   territory, the Crown, the Establishment, the authorities, the conn,
   the government, the helm, the wheel, town, township, tutelage,
   village, wapentake, ward, wardenship, wardship, watch and ward,
   wing



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

GOVERNMENT, natural and political law. The manner in which sovereignty is
exercised in each state.
     2. There are three simple forms of government, the democratic, the
aristocratic, and monarchical. But these three simple forms may be varied to
infinity by the mixture and divisions of their different powers. Sometimes
by the word government is understood the body of men, or the individual in
the state, to whom is entrusted the executive power. It is taken in this
sense when the government is spoken of in opposition to other bodies in the
state.
     3. Governments are also divided into monarchical and republican; among
the monarchical states may be classed empires, kingdoms, and others; in
these the sovereignty resides in, a single individual. There are some
monarchical states under the name of duchies, counties, and the like.
Republican states are those where the sovereignty is in several persons.
These are subdivided into aristocracies, where the power is exercised by a
few persons of the first rank in the state; and democracies, which are those
governments where the common people may exercise the highest powers. 1 Bouv.
Inst. n. 20. See Aristocracy; Democracy; Despotism; Monarchy; Theocracy.
     4. It should be remembered, however, that governments, for the most
part, have not been framed on models. Their parts and their powers grew out
of occasional acts, prompted by some urgent expediency, or some private
interest, which, in the course of time, coalesced and hardened into usages.
These usages became the object of respect and the guide of conduct long
before they were embodied in written laws. This subject is philosophically
treated by Sir James McIntosh, in his History of England. See vol. 1, p. 71,
et seq.