ETYM Latin mandatum, from mandare to commit to one's charge, order, orig., to put into one's hand; manus hand + dare to give: cf. French mandat. Related to Manual, Date a time, and cf. Commend, Maundy Thursday.
1. A document giving an official instruction or command; SYN. authorization.
2. (Politics) The commission that is given to a government and its policies through an electoral victory.
Commission to perform act or rule for another; command; instruction, especially to political representative.
In history, a territory whose administration was entrusted to Allied states by the League of Nations under the Treaty of Versailles after World War i. Mandated territories were former German and Turkish possessions (including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine). When the United Nations replaced the League of Nations 1945, mandates that had not achieved independence became known as trust territories.
In general, mandate means any official command; in politics also the right (given by the electors) of an elected government to carry out its program of policies.

1. To assign authority to.
2. To assign under a mandate; of nations.