Definition of "application"

application

/ˌæplɪˈkeɪʃən/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural applications
1. The act of applying or laying on, in a literal sense
2. The substance applied.
  Quotations
  His body was stripped, laid out upon a table, and covered with a hearsecloth, when some of his attendants perceived symptoms of returning animation, and by the use of warm applications, internal and external, gradually restored him to life.
  1857, John Eadie, John Francis Waller, William John Macquorn Rankine, The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography
3. The act of applying as a means; the employment of means to accomplish an end; specific use.
  Quotations
  All that I have hitherto contended for, is, that whatsoever rigor is necessary, it is more to be us'd, the younger children are; and having by a due application wrought its effect, it is to be relax'd, and chang'd into a milder sort of government.
  1693, [John Locke], “§43”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […]
4. The act of directing or referring something to a particular case, to discover or illustrate agreement or disagreement, fitness, or correspondence.
5. (computing) A computer program or the set of software that the end user perceives as a single entity as a tool for a well-defined purpose. (Also called: application program; application software.)
6. A verbal or written request for assistance or employment or admission to a school, course or similar.
7. (bureaucracy, law) A petition, entreaty, or other request, with the adposition for denoting the subject matter.
8. The act of requesting, claiming, or petitioning something.
9. Diligence; close thought or attention.
10. A kind of needlework; appliqué.
11. (computing theory) The substitution of a specific value for the parameter in the abstraction, in lambda calculus.
12. (obsolete) Compliance.