From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Domain \Do*main"\, noun [F. domaine, OF. demaine, L. dominium, property, right of ownership, fr. dominus master, owner. See {Dame}, and cf {Demesne}, {Dungeon}.]
1. Dominion; empire; authority.
2. The territory over which dominion or authority is exerted; the possessions of a sovereign or commonwealth, or the like. Also used figuratively. [WordNet sense 2]
The domain of authentic history. --E. Everett.
The domain over which the poetic spirit ranges. --J. C. Shairp.
3. Landed property; estate; especially, the land about the mansion house of a lord, and in his immediate occupancy; demesne. [WordNet sense 2] --Shenstone.
4. (Law) Ownership of land; an estate or patrimony which one has in his own right; absolute proprietorship; paramount or sovereign ownership.
5. (Math.) the set of values which the independent variable of a function may take. Contrasted to {range}, which is the set of values taken by the dependent variable. [WordNet sense 3] [PJC]
6. (Math.) a connected set of points, also called a {region}. [PJC]
7. (Physics) a region within a ferromagnetic material, composed of a number of atoms whose magnetic poles are pointed in the same direction, and which may move together in a coordinated manner when disturbed, as by heating. The direction of polarity of adjacent domains may be different, but may be aligned by a strong external magnetic field. [PJC]
8. (Computers) an address within the internet computer network, which may be a single computer, a network of computers, or one of a number of accounts on a multiuser computer. The domain specifies the location (host computer) to which communications on the internet are directed. Each domain has a corresponding 32-bit number usually represented by four numbers separated by periods, as 128.32.282.56. Each domain may also have an alphabetical name, usually composed of a name plus an extension separated by a period, as worldsoul.org; the alphabetical name is referred to as a domain name. [PJC]
9. (Immunology) the three-dimensional structure within an immunoglobulin which is formed by one of the homology regions of a heavy or light chain. --Dict. Sci. Tech. [PJC]
10. the field of knowledge, expertise, or interest of a person; as, he had a limited domain of discourse; I can't comment on that, it's outside my domain. [WordNet sense 5]
Syn: domain, realm, field, area. [PJC]
11. a particular environment or walk of life. [WordNet sense 1]
Syn: sphere, domain, area, orbit, field, arena. [PJC]
12. people in general; especially a distinctive group of people with some shared interest. [WordNet sense 4]
1. the territory belonging to a State or to the general government; public lands. [U.S.]
2. the situation or status of intellectual property which is not protected by copyright, patent or other restriction on use. Anything
{in the public domain} may be used by anyone without restriction. The effective term of force of copyrights and patents are limited by statute, and after the term expires, the writings and inventions thus protected go into the public domain and are free for use by all.
{Right of eminent domain}, that superior dominion of the sovereign power over all the property within the state, including that previously granted by itself, which authorizes it to appropriate any part thereof to a necessary public use, reasonable compensation being made.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a particular environment or walk of life; "his social sphere is limited"; "it was a closed area of employment"; "he's out of my orbit" [syn: {sphere}, {area}, {orbit}, {field}, {arena}]
2: territory over which rule or control is exercised; "his domain extended into Europe"; "he made it the law of the land" [syn: {demesne}, {land}]
3: the set of values of the independent variable for which a function is defined
4: people in general; especially a distinctive group of people with some shared interest; "the Western world" [syn: {world}]
5: a knowledge domain that you are interested in or are communicating about; "it was a limited domain of discourse"; "here we enter the region of opinion"; "the realm of the occult" [syn: {region}, {realm}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
132 Moby Thesaurus words for "domain": academic discipline, academic specialty, acres, ally, ambit, animal kingdom, applied science, archduchy, archdukedom, area, arena, art, bailiwick, beat, body politic, border, borderland, buffer state, captive nation, chain of being, champaign, chattels real, chieftaincy, chieftainry, circle, circuit, city-state, class structure, colony, commonweal, commonwealth, concern, country, county, demesne, department, department of knowledge, discipline, dominion, duchy, dukedom, earldom, empery, empire, establishment, field, field of inquiry, field of study, free city, grand duchy, grounds, hemisphere, hierarchy, honor, judicial circuit, jurisdiction, kingdom, land, landed property, lands, lot, lots, mandant, mandate, mandated territory, mandatee, mandatory, manor, march, messuage, mineral kingdom, nation, nationality, natural hierarchy, natural science, ology, orb, orbit, pale, parcel, pecking order, plat, plot, polis, polity, possession, power, power structure, praedium, precinct, principality, principate, property, protectorate, province, puppet government, puppet regime, pure science, pyramid, quadrat, real estate, real property, realm, realty, republic, round, satellite, science, seneschalty, settlement, social science, sovereign nation, speciality, specialization, specialty, sphere, state, study, subdiscipline, sultanate, superpower, technicology, technics, technology, tenements, terrain, territory, toft, toparchia, toparchy, vegetable kingdom, walk
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
1. In the theory of functions, the set of argument values for which a {function} is defined. See {domain theory}. 2. A group of computers whose {hostnames} share a common suffix, the "domain name". The last component of this is the {top-level domain}. See {administrative domain}, {Domain Name System}, {fully qualified domain name}. 3. {Distributed Operating Multi Access Interactive Network}. 4. A specific phase of the {software life cycle} in which a developer works. Domains define developers' and users' areas of responsibility and the scope of possible relationships between products. 5. The subject or market in which a piece of software is designed to work. (1997-12-26)
From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:
DOMAIN Distributed Operating Multi Access Interactive Network (Apollo, Internet)
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0