term

Etymology 1

From Middle English terme, borrowed from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end; in Medieval Latin, also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”). Doublet of terminus and termon. Old English had termen, from the same source.

noun

1. That which limits the extent of anything; limit, extremity, bound, boundary, terminus.
   Alright, look...we can spend the holidays with your parents, but this time it will be on my terms.
2. A chronological limitation or restriction, a limited timespan.
   The term of a lease agreement is the period of time during which the lease is effective, and may be fixed, periodic, or of indefinite duration.
3. Any of the binding conditions or promises in a legal contract.
   Be sure to read the terms and conditions before signing.
4. Specifically, the conditions in a legal contract that specify the price and also how and when payment must be made.
   Q: What are your company's terms? A: Net thirty, cash or check. [This answer means that the net total must be paid within 30 days; see Net D.]
   The latest models are available now, on the lowest terms you'll find anywhere, guaranteed.
   The Cabin is large and commodious, well calculated for the Accommodation of Paſengers. Merchandiſe, Produce, &c. carried on the loweſt Terms. 1793 May 17, John Constable and James Piper, advertisement for a packet-boat between Chestertown and Baltimore, Chestertown, Maryland, File:Packet_Schooner.jpg
5. (geometry, archaic) A point, line, or superficies that limits.
   A line is the term of a superficies, and a superficies is the term of a solid.
6. A word or phrase (e.g., noun phrase, verb phrase, open compound), especially one from a specialised area of knowledge; a name for a concept.
   "Algorithm" is a term used in computer science.
   The noun phrase "red blood cell", the acronym "RBC", and the word "erythrocyte" are synonymous terms.
7. Relations among people.
   We are on friendly terms with each other.
8. Part of a year, especially one of the divisions of an academic year.
9. Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.
   1. The time during which legal courts are open.
   2. Certain days on which rent is paid.
10. With respect to a pregnancy, the period during which birth usually happens (approximately 40 weeks from conception).
    at term, preterm, postterm
11. (of a patent) The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.
12. (archaic) A menstrual period.
    My wife, after the absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again. 1660, Samuel Pepys, Diary
13. (mathematics) Any value (variable or constant) or expression separated from another term by a space or an appropriate character, in an overall expression or table.
    All the terms of this sum cancel out.
    One only term is odd in ( 12; 3; 4 ).
14. (logic) The subject or the predicate of a proposition; one of the three component parts of a syllogism, each one of which is used twice.
15. (astrology) An essential dignity in which unequal segments of every astrological sign have internal rulerships which affect the power and integrity of each planet in a natal chart.
16. (art) A statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal.
    You have been already informed, I have no doubt, of the subject which we have chosen: the adorning a Term of Hymen with festoons of flowers. 1773, Joshua Reynolds, edited by John Ingamells and John Edgcumbe, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale, published 2000, page 42
17. (nautical) A piece of carved work placed under each end of the taffrail.

verb

1. To phrase a certain way; to name or call.
   Abstraction or prescision ought to be carefully distinguished from two other modes of mental separation, which may be termed discrimination and dissociation. 1867, Charles Sanders Peirce, On a New List of Categories
   The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight. 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist

adj

1. (medicine, colloquial) Born or delivered at term.
   term neonate

Etymology 2

Clipping of terminal.

noun

1. (computing, informal) A computer program that emulates a physical terminal.

Etymology 3

Short for terminate, termination, terminated employee, etc.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To terminate one's employment

noun

1. One whose employment has been terminated