relation

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

• noun A logical or natural association between two or more things; relevance of one to another; connection.
• noun The connection of people by blood or marriage; kinship.
• noun A person connected to another by blood or marriage; a relative.
• noun The way in which one person or thing is connected with another.
• noun The mutual dealings or connections of persons, groups, or nations in social, business, or diplomatic matters.
• noun Sexual intercourse.
• noun The act of telling or narrating.
• noun A narrative; an account.
• noun Mathematics A correspondence between two sets, consisting of a set of ordered pairs, the first element of each of which is from the first set, and the second element of each of which is from the second set. If A = {1,2} and B = {3,4}, then {(1,3), (1,4)} is a relation from A to B.
• noun Law The principle by which an action done on a certain date is treated as having been done on an earlier date.
• idiom (in relation to) In reference to; in connection with.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To relate; bring into relation.
• noun The act of relating or telling; recital; narration.
• noun That which is related or told; an account; narrative: formerly applied to historical narrations or geographical descriptions: as, the Jesuit Relations.
• noun A character of a plurality of things; a fact concerning two or more things, especially and more properly when it is regarded as a predicate of one of the things connecting it with the others; the condition of being such and such with regard to something else: as, the relation of a citizen to the state; the relation of demand and supply.
• noun Intimate connection between facts; significant bearing of one fact upon another.
• noun Connection by consanguinity or affinity; kinship; tie of birth or marriage; relationship.
• noun Kindred; connection; a group of persons related by kinship.
• noun A person connected by consanguinity or affinity; a kinsman or kinswoman; a relative.
• noun In mathematics:
• noun A ratio; proportion.
• noun A connection between a number of quantities by which certain systems of values are excluded; especially, such a connection as may be expressed by a plexus of general equations.
• noun In music, that connection or kinship between two tones, chords, or keys (tonalities) which makes their association with each other easy and natural.
• noun In law:
• noun A fiction of law whereby, to prevent injustice, effect is given to an act done at one time as if it had been done at a previous time, it being said to have relation back to that time: as, where a deed is executed and acted on, but its delivery neglected, the law may give effect to its subsequent delivery by relation back to its date or to its execution, as may be equitable.
• noun Suggestion by a relator; the statement or complaint of his grievance by one at whose instance an action or special proceeding is brought by the state to determine a question involving both public and private right.
• noun In architecture, the direct dependence upon one another, and upon the whole, of the different parts of a building, or members of a design.
• noun Same as composite relation .
• noun Same as aggregate relation .
• noun a relation of such a sort that nothing can be so related to anything else, as the relations of self-consciousness, self-depreciation, self-help, etc.
• noun Synonyms Narration, Recital, etc. See account.
• noun Attitude, connection.
• noun Affiliation.5 and Relation, Relative, Connection, When applying to family affiliations, relation is used of a state or of a person, but in the latter sense relative is much better; relative is used of a person, but not of a state; connection is used with equal propriety of either person or state. Relation and relative refer to kinship by blood; connection is increasingly restricted to ties resulting from marriage.
• noun Kindred, kin.

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

• noun The act of relating or telling; also, that which is related; recital; account; narration; narrative.
• noun The state of being related or of referring; what is apprehended as appertaining to a being or quality, by considering it in its bearing upon something else; relative quality or condition; the being such and such with regard or respect to some other thing; connection
• noun Reference; respect; regard.
• noun Connection by consanguinity or affinity; kinship; relationship.
• noun A person connected by cosanguinity or affinity; a relative; a kinsman or kinswoman.
• noun The carrying back, and giving effect or operation to, an act or proceeding frrom some previous date or time, by a sort of fiction, as if it had happened or begun at that time. In such case the act is said to take effect by relation.
• noun The act of a relator at whose instance a suit is begun.

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

• noun The manner in which two things may be associated.
• noun A member of one's family.
• noun The act of relating a story.
• noun set theory A set of ordered tuples.
• noun set theory Specifically, a set of ordered pairs.
• noun databases A set of ordered tuples retrievable by a relational database; a table.