From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Establishment \Es*tab"lish*ment\, noun [Cf. OF. establissement, F. ['e]tablissement.]
1. The act of establishing; a ratifying or ordaining; settlement; confirmation.
2. The state of being established, founded, and the like; fixed state.
3. That which is established; as: (a) A form of government, civil or ecclesiastical; especially, a system of religion maintained by the civil power; as, the Episcopal establishment of England. (b) A permanent civil, military, or commercial, force or organization. (c) The place in which one is permanently fixed for residence or business; residence, including grounds, furniture, equipage, etc.; with which one is fitted out; also, any office or place of business, with its fixtures; that which serves for the carrying on of a business; as, to keep up a large establishment; a manufacturing establishment.
Exposing the shabby parts of the establishment. --W. Irving.
{Establishment of the port} (Hydrography), a datum on which the tides are computed at the given port, obtained by observation, viz., the interval between the moon's passage over the meridian and the time of high water at the port, on the days of new and full moon.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: the act of forming something; "the constitution of a PTA group last year"; "it was the establishment of his reputation"; "he still remembers the organization of the club" [syn: {constitution}, {formation}, {organization}, {organisation}]
2: an organization founded and united for a specific purpose [syn: {institution}]
3: the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something; "he claims that the present administration is corrupt"; "the governance of an association is responsible to its members"; "he quickly became recognized as a member of the establishment" [syn: {administration}, {governance}, {governing body}, {brass}, {organization}, {organisation}]
4: a public or private structure (business or governmental or educational) including buildings and equipment for business or residence
5: any large organization
6: (ecology) the process by which a plant or animal becomes established in a new habitat [syn: {ecesis}]
7: the cognitive process of establishing a valid proof [syn: {validation}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
102 Moby Thesaurus words for "Establishment": John Bull, Rasputin, Svengali, Uncle Sam, VIP, Washington, Whitehall, access, bad influence, baron, big gun, big man, big name, big wheel, bigwig, brass, brass hat, bureaucracy, celebrity, court, dignitary, dignity, directorate, elder, eminence grise, father, figure, five-percenter, friend at court, good influence, gray eminence, great man, heavyweight, hidden hand, hierarchy, higher echelons, higher-ups, important person, influence, influence peddler, influencer, ingroup, interests, key, kingmaker, lion, lobby, lobbyist, lords of creation, magnate, man of influence, man of mark, management, manipulator, ministry, mogul, nabob, name, notability, notable, officialdom, open sesame, panjandrum, person of renown, personage, personality, pillar of society, power, power elite, powers that be, prelacy, pressure group, ruling circle, ruling class, ruling classes, sachem, sinister influence, somebody, something, special interests, special-interest group, the Crown, the Establishment, the administration, the authorities, the government, the great, the ingroup, the interests, the people upstairs, the power elite, the power structure, the top, them, they, top brass, top people, tycoon, very important person, wheeler-dealer, wire-puller, worthy
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
207 Moby Thesaurus words for "establishment": A, Old Guard, absolute indication, agency, alpha, anchorage, animal kingdom, architecture, aristocracy, ascertainment, assurance, atelier, barbershop, barons, beauty parlor, beauty shop, beginning, bench, blast-off, boutique, building, burden of proof, business, butcher shop, certification, chain of being, chain store, check, checking, class structure, co-op, collation, colonization, commencement, company, concern, concession, conclusive evidence, confirmation, constitution, construct, construction, cooperative, corporation, countinghouse, country store, cream, creation, cutting edge, damning evidence, dawn, deep-rootedness, deep-seatedness, demonstration, department store, desk, determination, dime store, discount house, discount store, domain, edge, edifice, effectuation, elite, embedment, emporium, ensuring, enterprise, entrenchment, erection, fabric, facility, firm, five-and-ten, fixation, fixedness, fixity, fixture, flying start, formation, foundation, founding, fresh start, general store, hierarchy, house, implantation, inauguration, inception, incontrovertible evidence, indisputable evidence, infixion, initiation, installation, installment, institute, institution, investiture, inveteracy, ironclad proof, jump-off, kick-off, kingdom, leading edge, lodgment, loft, lords of creation, magasin, mail-order house, market, mart, materialization, mineral kingdom, mooring, natural hierarchy, new departure, nobility, office, oncoming, onset, onus, onus probandi, opening, organization, origin, origination, outbreak, outfit, outset, overlapping, packaged house, parlor, pecking order, peopling, pile, plantation, population, post, power elite, power structure, prefab, prefabrication, proof, pyramid, realization, realm, reassurance, reassurement, retail store, ruling circles, ruling class, running start, salon, send-off, setting in motion, setting-up, settlement, settling, shop, skyscraper, square one, stabilization, start, start-off, starting point, store, structure, studio, substantiation, supermarket, superstructure, sure sign, sweatshop, take-off, the Church, the Establishment, the administration, the authorities, the best, the best people, the brass, the government, the power structure, top people, tower, trading post, unmistakable sign, upper class, upper crust, validation, variety shop, variety store, vegetable kingdom, verification, warehouse, wareroom, wholesale house, work site, work space, workbench, workhouse, working space, workplace, workroom, workshop, worktable
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