(Gr. parakletos), one who pleads another's cause, who helps another by defending or comforting him. It is a name given by Christ three times to the Holy Ghost (John 14:16; 15:26; 16:7, where the Greek word is rendered "Comforter, " q.v.). It is applied to Christ in 1 John 2:1, where the same Greek word is rendered "Advocate," the rendering which it should have in all the places where it occurs. Tertullus "the orator" (Acts 24:1) was a Roman advocate whom the Jews employed to accuse Paul before Felix.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) One who pleads the cause of another. Specifically: One who pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court; a counselor.

2. (n.) One who defends, vindicates, or espouses any cause by argument; a pleader; as, an advocate of free trade, an advocate of truth.

3. (n.) Christ, considered as an intercessor.

4. (n.) To plead in favor of; to defend by argument, before a tribunal or the public; to support, vindicate, or recommend publicly.

5. (v. i.) To act as advocate.