a. [ad. L. administrātīv-us; f. administrāt- ppl. stem: see ADMINISTER and -IVE.]
1. Pertaining to, or dealing with, the conduct or management of affairs; executive.
1731. Bailey, Administrative, pertaining to administration.
1794. Ld. Hood, in Nicolas’s Disp. & Lett. Nelson (1845), I. 399. Captain Young … returned to the Victory with two Officers and two of the Administrative Bodies.
1850. Kinglake, Crimea, VI. x. 399. The administrative troubles of the winter campaign.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., II. 234. He was in his element as an administrative man.
1872. Yeats, Growth & Viciss. Comm., 34. A municipal oligarchy … insured some degree of administrative skill.
† 2. Of the nature of stewardship, or delegated authority; ‘used in contradistinction to dominion or power in propriety.’ Obs.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., ’Tis contraverted whether the power given to Augustus were only administrative, or proper and immediate.
3. absol. quasi-sb. An administrative body; a company of men entrusted with management.
1876. Academy, 13 May, 455/3. Grossly unjust to the more prominent administratives and executives concerned.
