From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Dimension \Di*men"sion\, n. [L. dimensio, fr. dimensus, p. p. of
dimetiri to measure out; di- = dis- + metiri to measure: cf.
F. dimension. See {Measure}.]
1. Measure in a single line, as length, breadth, height,
thickness, or circumference; extension; measurement; --
usually, in the plural, measure in length and breadth, or
in length, breadth, and thickness; extent; size; as, the
dimensions of a room, or of a ship; the dimensions of a
farm, of a kingdom.
[1913 Webster]
Gentlemen of more than ordinary dimensions. --W.
Irving.
[1913 Webster]
{Space of dimension}, extension that has length but no
breadth or thickness; a straight or curved line.
{Space of two dimensions}, extension which has length and
breadth, but no thickness; a plane or curved surface.
{Space of three dimensions}, extension which has length,
breadth, and thickness; a solid.
{Space of four dimensions}, as imaginary kind of extension,
which is assumed to have length, breadth, thickness, and
also a fourth imaginary dimension. Space of five or six,
or more dimensions is also sometimes assumed in
mathematics.
[1913 Webster]
2. Extent; reach; scope; importance; as, a project of large
dimensions.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Math.) The degree of manifoldness of a quantity; as, time
is quantity having one dimension; volume has three
dimensions, relative to extension.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Alg.) A literal factor, as numbered in characterizing a
term. The term dimensions forms with the cardinal numbers
a phrase equivalent to degree with the ordinal; thus,
a^{2}b^{2}c is a term of five dimensions, or of the fifth
degree.
[1913 Webster]
5. pl. (Phys.) The manifoldness with which the fundamental
units of time, length, and mass are involved in
determining the units of other physical quantities.
Note: Thus, since the unit of velocity varies directly as the
unit of length and inversely as the unit of time, the
dimensions of velocity are said to be length [divby]
time; the dimensions of work are mass [times]
(length)^{2} [divby] (time)^{2}; the dimensions of
density are mass [divby] (length)^{3}.
{Dimensional lumber}, {Dimension lumber}, {Dimension
scantling}, or {Dimension stock} (Carp.), lumber for
building, etc., cut to the sizes usually in demand, or to
special sizes as ordered.
{Dimension stone}, stone delivered from the quarry rough, but
brought to such sizes as are requisite for cutting to
dimensions given.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
dimension
n 1: the magnitude of something in a particular direction
(especially length or width or height)
2: a construct whereby objects or individuals can be
distinguished; "self-confidence is not an endearing property"
[syn: {property}, {attribute}, {dimension}]
3: one of three Cartesian coordinates that determine a position
in space
4: magnitude or extent; "a building of vast proportions" [syn:
{proportion}, {dimension}]
v 1: indicate the dimensions on; "These techniques permit us to
dimension the human heart"
2: shape or form to required dimensions
From French-English FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.3.4 [fd-fra-eng]:
dimension /dimɑ̃sjɔ̃/
dimension; measurement
From German-English FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.3.3 [fd-deu-eng]:
Dimension /diːmɛnziːoːn/
dimension
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