Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Derivation?

\Der`i*va"tion\, n. [L. derivatio: cf. F. d['e]rivation. See {Derive}.] 1. A leading or drawing off of water from a stream or source. [Obs.] --T. Burnet. 2. The act of receiving anything from a source; the act of procuring an effect from a cause, means, or condition, as profits from capital, conclusions or opinions from evidence. As touching traditional communication, . . . I do not doubt but many of those truths have had the help of that derivation. --Sir M. Hale. 3. The act of tracing origin or descent, as in grammar or genealogy; as, the derivation of a word from an Aryan root. 4. The state or method of being derived; the relation of origin when established or asserted. 5. That from which a thing is derived. 6. That which is derived; a derivative; a deduction. From the Euphrates into an artificial derivation of that river. --Gibbon. 7. (Math.) The operation of deducing one function from another according to some fixed law, called the law of derivation, as the of differentiation or of integration. 8. (Med.) A drawing of humors or fluids from one part of the body to another, to relieve or lessen a morbid process.
\Der`iva"tion\, n. The formation of a word from its more original or radical elements; also, a statement of the origin and history of a word.