a. (sb.) [f. L. type *consultātīv-us (prob. used in med.L.), f. consultāt-, ppl. stem of consultāre: see -IVE. mod.F. consultatif, -ive.] Of or pertaining to consultation; having the right or power to advise or join in consultation; deliberative, advisory: said chiefly of a body whose function is to take part in a consultation, but not to vote upon the decision.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 107. To have a consultatiue, exhortatiue, or consentatiue voice onely.
1846. Grote, Greece, I. xx. II. 9. The Council is a purely consultative body assembled … solely for his information and guidance.
1878. Gladstone, Prim. Homer, 117. In this consultative and executive body, discussion is quite free.
† B. as sb. A consultative voice or vote; a right to consult or deliberate. Obs. rare.
1658–9. Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 67. I would willingly have another House, and give them a consultative in some things, and in other things a negative. Ibid. (1659), IV. 355. To give them a consultative, will imp your wings; but to give them a negative, you will be like a bird in a string.
