assignment

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of assigning.
• noun Something, such as a task, that is assigned: synonym: task.
• noun A position or post of duty to which one is assigned.
• noun The transfer of a claim, right, interest, or property from one to another.
• noun The instrument by which this transfer is effected.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of apportioning or allotting; allotment.
• noun The act of setting apart, appointing, designating, or specifying.
• noun That which has been assigned, as a particular task or duty.
• noun Specifically, in law: The transference of a right or an interest. See assign, v., 6
• noun . A pointing out or setting forth: as, the assignment of error.
• noun The writing by which an interest is transferred.
• noun An allotment, allowance, or pension; a sum allowed.
• noun Formerly, in Australia, the allotting of convicts as unpaid servants to colonists, in order to relieve the authorities of the expense of the convict establishments.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun An allotting or an appointment to a particular person or use; or for a particular time, as of a cause or causes in court.
• noun A transfer of title or interest by writing, as of lease, bond, note, or bill of exchange; a transfer of the whole of some particular estate or interest in lands.
• noun The writing by which an interest is transferred.
• noun The transfer of the property of a bankrupt to certain persons called assignees, in whom it is vested for the benefit of creditors.
• noun the setting out by metes and bounds of the widow's thirds or portion in the deceased husband's estate, and allotting it to her.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun the act of assigning, or an assigned task
• noun a position to which someone is assigned
• noun education a task given to students, homework or coursework
• noun law a transfer of something from one person to another, especially property, or a claim or right; the document that effects this transfer
• noun computing an operation that assigns a value to a variable

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun (law) a transfer of property by deed of conveyance
• noun the act of putting a person into a non-elective position
• noun an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor)
• noun a duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces)
• noun the instrument by which a claim or right or interest or property is transferred from one person to another
• noun the act of distributing something to designated places or persons