The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Consultation \Con`sul*ta"tion\, n. [L. consultatio: cf. F.
   consultation.]
   1. The act of consulting or conferring; deliberation of two
      or more persons on some matter, with a view to a decision.
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            Thus they doubtful consultations dark
            Ended.                                --Milton.
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   2. A council or conference, as of physicians, held to
      consider a special case, or of lawyers restained in a
      cause.
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   Writ of consultation (Law), a writ by which a cause,
      improperly removed by prohibition from one court to
      another, is returned to the court from which it came; --
      so called because the judges, on consultation, find the
      prohibition ill-founded.
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