The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Application \Ap`pli*ca"tion\, n. [L. applicatio, fr. applicare:
   cf. F. application. See Apply.]
   1. The act of applying or laying on, in a literal sense; as,
      the application of emollients to a diseased limb.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The thing applied.
      [1913 Webster]

            He invented a new application by which blood might
            be stanched.                          --Johnson.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The act of applying as a means; the employment of means to
      accomplish an end; specific use.
      [1913 Webster]

            If a right course . . . be taken with children,
            there will not be much need of the application of
            the common rewards and punishments.   --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The act of directing or referring something to a
      particular case, to discover or illustrate agreement or
      disagreement, fitness, or correspondence; as, I make the
      remark, and leave you to make the application; the
      application of a theory.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Hence, in specific uses:
      (a) That part of a sermon or discourse in which the
          principles before laid down and illustrated are
          applied to practical uses; the "moral" of a fable.
      (b) The use of the principles of one science for the
          purpose of enlarging or perfecting another; as, the
          application of algebra to geometry.
          [1913 Webster]

   6. The capacity of being practically applied or used;
      relevancy; as, a rule of general application.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. The act of fixing the mind or closely applying one's self;
      assiduous effort; close attention; as, to injure the
      health by application to study.
      [1913 Webster]

            Had his application been equal to his talents, his
            progress might have been greater.     --J. Jay.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. The act of making request of soliciting; as, an
      application for an office; he made application to a court
      of chancery.
      [1913 Webster]

   9. A request; a document containing a request; as, his
      application was placed on file.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

application
    n 1: the act of bringing something to bear; using it for a
         particular purpose; "he advocated the application of
         statistics to the problem"; "a novel application of
         electronics to medical diagnosis" [syn: application,
         practical application]
    2: a verbal or written request for assistance or employment or
       admission to a school; "December 31 is the deadline for
       applications"
    3: the work of applying something; "the doctor prescribed a
       topical application of iodine"; "a complete bleach requires
       several applications"; "the surface was ready for a coating
       of paint"; [syn: application, coating, covering]
    4: a program that gives a computer instructions that provide the
       user with tools to accomplish a task; "he has tried several
       different word processing applications" [syn: application,
       application program, applications programme]
    5: liquid preparation having a soothing or antiseptic or
       medicinal action when applied to the skin; "a lotion for dry
       skin" [syn: lotion, application]
    6: a diligent effort; "it is a job requiring serious
       application" [syn: application, diligence]
    7: the action of putting something into operation; "the
       application of maximum thrust"; "massage has far-reaching
       medical applications"; "the application of indexes to tables
       of data"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

232 Moby Thesaurus words for "application":
   Ace bandage, Band-Aid, absorbed attention, absorption,
   accounting for, active use, address, adhesive tape, administration,
   answerability, appeal, appliance, applicability, applying,
   appositeness, ardor, arrogation, ascription, asking, assiduity,
   assiduousness, assignation, assignment, attachment, attention,
   attribution, band, bandage, bandaging, bearing, bestowal, binder,
   blame, boning, brace, brainwork, bulldog tenacity, busyness, cast,
   cataplasm, charge, claim, commitment, compress, concentration,
   concern, concernment, connection, connection with, conning,
   consideration, constancy, consumption, contemplation, cotton,
   court plaster, cram, cramming, cravat, credit, debate, dedication,
   deep study, deep thought, deliberation, demand, derivation from,
   desire, devotion, diligence, dogged perseverance, doggedness,
   dosage, dosing, dressing, drill, effort, elastic bandage, employ,
   employment, endurance, energeticalness, energy, enforcing,
   engagement, engrossment, entreaty, epithem, etiology, exercise,
   exercising, exertion, expressed desire, extensive study, fervor,
   fidelity, forcing, forcing on, four-tailed bandage, gauze,
   germaneness, giving, good use, grind, grinding, hard usage,
   hard use, headwork, heed, honor, ill use, immersion, impetration,
   imploration, imprecation, imputation, indefatigability, indent,
   industriousness, industry, insistence, insistency, inspection,
   intentness, interest, involvement, laboriousness, lint, loyalty,
   lucubration, materiality, meditation, mental labor, meting out,
   misuse, monomania, obsession, obstinacy, operation, orison,
   palaetiology, patience, patience of Job, permanence, perseverance,
   persistence, persistency, pertinaciousness, pertinacity,
   pertinence, perusal, petition, placement, plaster, plaster cast,
   plea, pledget, plodding, plugging, poultice, practice,
   preoccupation, prescribing, profound thought, rapt attention,
   reading, reference, reference to, regard, relatedness,
   relentlessness, relevance, request, requisition, resolution,
   respect, responsibility, restudy, restudying, review, roller,
   roller bandage, rough usage, rubber bandage, saddling, sedulity,
   sedulousness, single-mindedness, singleness of purpose, sling,
   slogging, solicitation, splint, sponge, stability, stamina,
   staying power, steadfastness, steadiness, stick-to-itiveness,
   strenuousness, stubbornness, studiousness, study, studying, stupe,
   subject, submersion, suit, supplication, swotting, tampon, tape,
   tenaciousness, tenacity, tent, tirelessness, tourniquet,
   triangular bandage, unremittingness, unsparingness,
   unswerving attention, usage, use, using up, utilization, vehemence,
   wide reading, wish, wrong use, zeal, zealousness



The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

application

   1. application program.

   2. function application.


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

APPLICATION. The act of making a request for something; the paper on which
the request is written is also called an application; as, an application to
chancery for leave to invest trust funds; an application to an insurance
company for insurance. In the land law of Pennsylvania, an application is
understood to be a request in writing to have a certain quantity of land at
or near a certain place therein mentioned. 3 Binn. 21; 5 Id. 151; Jones on
Land Office Titles, 24.
     2. An application for insurance ought to state the facts truly as to
the object to be insured, for if any false representation be made with a
fraudulent intent, it will avoid the policy. 7 Wend. 72.
     3. By application is also meant the use or disposition of a thing; as
the application of purchase money.
     4. In some cases a purchaser who buys trust property is required, to
see to the application of thee purchase money, and if be neglects to do so,
and it be misapplied, he will be considered as a trustee of the property he
has so purchased. The subject will be examined by considering, 1, the kind
of property to be sold; 2, the cases where the purchaser is bound to see to
the application of the purchase money in consequence of the wording of the
deed of trust.
     5.-1. Personal property is liable, in the hands of the executor, for
the payment of debts, and the purchaser is therefore exempted from seeing to
the application of the purchase money, although it may have been bequeathed
to be sold for the payment of debts. 1 Cox, R. 145; 2 Dick. 725; 7 John. Ch.
Rep., 150, 160; 11 S. & R. 377, 385; 2 P. Wms. 148; 4 Bro. C. C. 136;
White's L. C. in Eq. 54; 4 Bouv. Inst. n. 3946.
     6. With regard to real estate, which is not a fund at law for the
payment of debt's, except where it is made so by act of assembly, or by
direction in the will of the testator or deed of trust, the purchaser from
an executor or trustee may be liable for the application of the purchase
money. And it will now be proper to consider the cases where such liability
exists.
     7.-2. Upon the sale of real estate, a trustee in whom the legal title
is vested, can it law give a valid discharge for the purchase money, because
he is the owner at law. In equity, on the contrary, the persons among whom
the produce of the sale is to be distributed are considered the owners; and
a purchaser must obtain a discharge from them, unless the power of giving
receipts is either expressly or by implication given to the trustees to,
give receipts for the purchase money. It is, for this reason, usual to
provide in wills and trust deeds that the purchaser shall not be required to
see to the application of the purchase money.