inscription

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

• noun The act or an instance of inscribing.
• noun A marking, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
• noun A piece of material, such as a stone or metal tablet, that is inscribed.
• noun An enrollment or a registration of names.
• noun A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
• noun The usually informal dedication of a book or an artistic work.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of inscribing, in any sense of that word.
• noun Inscribed symbols, letters, or words; specifically, a descriptive, explanatory, or illustrative memorandum, as a name, title, motto, panegyric, etc., written, engraved, or stamped, as on a monument, a medal, etc.: as, an inscription on a tombstone, on a gem, a book, or a picture; the inscriptions on the obverse and reverse of a coin or a medal.
• noun Specifically In archœol., a historical, religious, or other record cut, impressed, painted, or written on stone, brick, metal, or other hard surface: as, the inscription on the Rosetta or the Moabite stone; the cuneiform inscriptions on rocks or brick cylinders; the inscriptions on the Egyptian temples or in the Roman catacombs; the inscriptions on Greek vases, votive tablets of terra-cotta, etc.
• noun A form of complimentary presentation or offering of a book or work of art, less elaborate than a dedication.
• noun In early church music, a sign or motto, or both combined, placed at the beginning of a canon written in an enigmatical manner, to show how it was to be resolved. The inscription was often designedly more puzzling than the canon itself.
• noun In the civil law, a consent by an accuser that, if the accusation be false, he will submit to the same punishment which would have been inflicted upon the accused had he been guilty.
• noun Entry on the calendar, as of a cause in court.
• noun In geometry, the inscribingof one figure in another; also, the state of being so inscribed.
• noun A tendinous line interrupting the fleshy fibers of a muscle: seen especially in the abdominal muscles.

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

• noun The act or process of inscribing.
• noun That which is inscribed; something written or engraved; especially, a word or words written or engraved on a solid substance for preservation or public inspection
• noun (Anat.) A line of division or intersection.
• noun An address, consignment, or informal dedication, as of a book to a person, as a mark of respect or an invitation of patronage.

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

• noun Text carved on a wall or plaque, such as a memorial or gravestone.
• noun The text on a coin.
• noun Words written in the front of a book as a dedication.

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

• noun a short message (as in a book or musical work or on a photograph) dedicating it to someone or something
• noun the activity of inscribing (especially carving or engraving) letters or words
• noun letters inscribed (especially words engraved or carved) on something