Definition: domain

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

domain
     n 1: a particular environment or walk of life; "his social sphere
          is limited"; "it was a closed area of employment"; "he's
          out of my orbit" [syn: sphere, area, orbit, field,
           arena]
     2: territory over which rule or control is exercised; "his
        domain extended into Europe"; "he made it the law of the
        land" [syn: demesne, land]
     3: the set of values of the independent variable for which a
        function is defined [ant: range]
     4: people in general; especially a distinctive group of people
        with some shared interest; "the Western world" [syn: world]
     5: a knowledge domain that you are interested in or are
        communicating about; "it was a limited domain of
        discourse"; "here we enter the region of opinion"; "the
        realm of the occult" [syn: region, realm]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Domain \Do*main"\, n. [F. domaine, OF. demaine, L. dominium,
   property, right of ownership, fr. dominus master, owner. See
   Dame, and cf Demesne, Dungeon.]
   1. Dominion; empire; authority.

   2. The territory over which dominion or authority is exerted;
      the possessions of a sovereign or commonwealth, or the
      like. Also used figuratively.

            The domain of authentic history.      --E. Everett.

            The domain over which the poetic spirit ranges. --J.
                                                  C. Shairp.

   3. Landed property; estate; especially, the land about the
      mansion house of a lord, and in his immediate occupancy;
      demesne. --Shenstone.

   4. (Law) Ownership of land; an estate or patrimony which one
      has in his own right; absolute proprietorship; paramount
      or sovereign ownership.

   Public domain, the territory belonging to a State or to the
      general government; public lands. [U.S.]

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)

domain

   1. <mathematics> In the theory of functions, the set of
   argument values for which a function is defined.

   See domain theory.

   2.  A group of computers whose hostnames share a
   common suffix, the "domain name".  The last component of this
   is the top-level domain.

   See administrative domain, Domain Name System, fully
   qualified domain name.

   3. Distributed Operating Multi Access Interactive Network.

   4.  A specific phase of the software life cycle
   in which a developer works.  Domains define developers' and
   users' areas of responsibility and the scope of possible
   relationships between products.

   5. The subject or market in which a piece of software is
   designed to work.

   (1997-12-26)

Source: V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms December 2001

DOMAIN
        Distributed Operating Multi Access Interactive Network (Apollo, Internet)