Dictionary.net

• The federal council of the German Empire. In the and the Reichstag are vested the legislative functions. The federal council of Switzerland is also so called.

1913 - Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
By Noah Webster.

• b[=oo]n'des-rät, n. the Federal Council of the German Empire, its members annually appointed by the governments of the various states.

1908 - Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
By Thomas Davidson