Direction

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Direction \Di*rec"tion\, n. [L. directio: cf. F. direction.]
     1. The act of directing, of aiming, regulating, guiding, or
        ordering; guidance; management; superintendence;
        administration; as, the direction o? public affairs or of
        a bank.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              I do commit his youth
              To your direction.                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
              ll chance, direction, which thou canst not see.
                                                    --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. That which is imposed by directing; a guiding or
        authoritative instruction; prescription; order; command;
        as, he grave directions to the servants.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The princes digged the well . . . by the direction
              of the law giver.                     --Numb. xxi.
                                                    18.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The name and residence of a person to whom any thing is
        sent, written upon the thing sent; superscription;
        address; as, the direction of a letter.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. The line or course upon which anything is moving or aimed
        to move, or in which anything is lying or pointing; aim;
        line or point of tendency; direct line or course; as, the
        ship sailed in a southeasterly direction.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. The body of managers of a corporation or enterprise; board
        of directors.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Gun.) The pointing of a piece with reference to an
        imaginary vertical axis; -- distinguished from elevation.
        The direction is given when the plane of sight passes
        through the object. --Wilhelm.
  
     Syn: Administration; guidance; management; superintendence;
          oversight; government; order; command; guide; clew.
  
     Usage: {Direction}, {Control}, {Command}, {Order}. These
            words, as here compared, have reference to the
            exercise of power over the actions of others. Control
            is negative, denoting power to restrain; command is
            positive, implying a right to enforce obedience;
            directions are commands containing instructions how to
            act. Order conveys more prominently the idea of
            authority than the word direction. A shipmaster has
            the command of his vessel; he gives orders or
            directions to the seamen as to the mode of sailing it;
            and exercises a due control over the passengers.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  direction
       n 1: a line leading to a place or point; "he looked the other
            direction"; "didn't know the way home" [syn: {way}]
       2: the spatial relation between something and the course along
          which it points or moves; "he checked the direction and
          velocity of the wind"
       3: a general course along which something has a tendency to
          develop; "I couldn't follow the direction of his
          thoughts"; "his ideals determined the direction of his
          career"; "they proposed a new direction for the firm"
       4: something that provides direction or advice as to a decision
          or course of action [syn: {guidance}, {counsel}, {counseling},
           {counselling}]
       5: the act of managing something; "he was given overall
          management of the program"; "is the direction of the
          economy a function of government?" [syn: {management}]
       6: a message describing how something is to be done; "he gave
          directions faster than she could follow them" [syn: {instruction}]
       7: the act of setting and holding a course; "a new council was
          installed under the direction of the king" [syn: {steering},
           {guidance}]
       8: a formal statement of a command or injunction to do
          something; "the judge's charge to the jury" [syn: {commission},
           {charge}]
       9: the concentration of attention or energy on something; "the
          focus of activity shifted to molecular biology"; "he had
          no direction in his life" [syn: {focus}, {focusing}, {focussing},
           {centering}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  199 Moby Thesaurus words for "direction":
     Zeitgeist, action, actuation, address, administering,
     administration, admonition, advice, advising, advocacy, agency,
     angle, animation, arrow, avenue, bearing, billhead, blaze,
     briefing, catechization, caution, caveat, charge, civil government,
     coaching, command, commission, compass needle, conduct, conducting,
     consultation, control, council, counsel, course, current,
     destination, dictate, didactics, directing, direction post,
     directions, directive, directorate, directorship, discipline,
     dispensation, disposition, dress rehearsal, drift, driving,
     edification, education, empery, empire, enlightenment, execution,
     exercise, exhortation, expostulation, final instructions,
     finger post, fist, form of government, functioning, general orders,
     glacial movement, governance, governing, government, guidance,
     guide, guideboard, guidepost, guiding, hand, handling, hortation,
     hour hand, idea, illumination, index, index finger, influence,
     information, injunction, inner-direction, instruction,
     instructions, lead, leadership, letterhead, line, lubber line,
     main current, mainstream, management, managing, manipulation,
     milepost, minute hand, mise-en-scene, monition, motion, motivation,
     mounting, movement, moving, name and address, needle, occupation,
     operancy, operating, operation, opinion, order, orders,
     other-direction, outlook, oversight, parley, pedagogics, pedagogy,
     performance, performing, pointer, pointing, political organization,
     polity, postal zone, practice, precept, prescript, prescription,
     private teaching, production, programmed instruction, prompting,
     proposal, recommendation, reeducation, regime, regimen, regnancy,
     regulation, rehearsal, reign, remonstrance, responsibility, road,
     route, rule, run, run-through, running, schooling,
     self-instruction, self-teaching, set, side, signboard, signpost,
     slant, sovereignty, spoon-feeding, stage management, staging,
     standpoint, steering, stimulation, stream, suggestion,
     superscription, supervising, supervision, sway, swing,
     system of government, teaching, tenor, the general tendency,
     the main course, thought, time spirit, tone, trend, tuition,
     tutelage, tutorage, tutoring, tutorship, walk-through, warning,
     way, work, working, workings, zip code, zone
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DIRECTION, practice. That part of a bill in chancery which contains the 
  address of the bill to the court; this must of course, contain the 
  appropriate and technical description of the court. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DIRECTION. The order and government of an institution; the persons who 
  compose the board of directors are jointly called the direction. Direction, 
  in another sense, is nearly synonymous with instruction. (q.v.)