From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Visitation \Vis`it*a"tion\, n. [L. visitatio: cf. F.
visitation.]
1. The act of visiting, or the state of being visited; access
for inspection or examination.
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Nothing but peace and gentle visitation. --Shak.
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2. Specifically: The act of a superior or superintending
officer who, in the discharge of his office, visits a
corporation, college, etc., to examine into the manner in
which it is conducted, and see that its laws and
regulations are duly observed and executed; as, the
visitation of a diocese by a bishop.
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3. The object of a visit. [Obs.] "O flowers, . . . my early
visitation and my last." --Milton.
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4. (Internat. Law) The act of a naval commander who visits,
or enters on board, a vessel belonging to another nation,
for the purpose of ascertaining her character and object,
but without claiming or exercising a right of searching
the vessel. It is, however, usually coupled with the right
of search (see under {Search}), visitation being used for
the purpose of search.
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5. Special dispensation; communication of divine favor and
goodness, or, more usually, of divine wrath and vengeance;
retributive calamity; retribution; judgment.
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What will ye do in the day of visitation? --Isa. x.
3.
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6. (Eccl.) A festival in honor of the visit of the Virgin
Mary to Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist, celebrated
on the second of July.
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{The Order of the Visitation of Our Lady} (R. C. Ch.), a
religious community of nuns, founded at Annecy, in Savoy,
in 1610, and in 1808 established in the United States. In
America these nuns are devoted to the education of girls.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
visitation
n 1: an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event; "his
mother-in-law's visits were a great trial for him"; "life
is full of tribulations"; "a visitation of the plague"
[syn: {trial}, {tribulation}, {visitation}]
2: any disaster or catastrophe; "a visitation of the plague"
3: an official visit for inspection or supervision; "the
commissioner made visitations to all the precinct stations";
"the recent visitation of the bishop to his diocese"
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