context

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

• noun The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.
• noun The circumstances in which an event occurs; a setting.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To knit together; connect.
• Knit or woven together; close; firm.
• noun Texture; specifically, the entire text or connected structure of a discourse or writing.
• noun . Less properly, the parts of a writing or discourse which precede or follow, and are directly connected with, some other part referred to or quoted.

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

• noun The part or parts of something written or printed, as of Scripture, which precede or follow a text or quoted sentence, or are so intimately associated with it as to throw light upon its meaning.
• adjective obsolete Knit or woven together; close; firm.
• transitive verb obsolete To knit or bind together; to unite closely.

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

• noun The surroundings, circumstances, environment, background or settings that determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event or other occurrence.
• noun linguistics The text in which a word or passage appears and which helps ascertain its meaning.
• noun archaeology The surroundings and environment in which an artifact is found and which may provide important clues about the artifact's function and/or cultural meaning.
• noun mycology The trama or flesh of a mushroom.
• verb obsolete To knit or bind together; to unite closely.

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

• noun discourse that surrounds a language unit and helps to determine its interpretation
• noun the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event