The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Direction \Di*rec"tion\, n. [L. directio: cf. F. direction.]
   1. The act of directing, of aiming, regulating, guiding, or
      ordering; guidance; management; superintendence;
      administration; as, the direction o? public affairs or of
      a bank.
      [1913 Webster]

            I do commit his youth
            To your direction.                    --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
            ll chance, direction, which thou canst not see.
                                                  --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which is imposed by directing; a guiding or
      authoritative instruction; prescription; order; command;
      as, he grave directions to the servants.
      [1913 Webster]

            The princes digged the well . . . by the direction
            of the law giver.                     --Numb. xxi.
                                                  18.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The name and residence of a person to whom any thing is
      sent, written upon the thing sent; superscription;
      address; as, the direction of a letter.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The line or course upon which anything is moving or aimed
      to move, or in which anything is lying or pointing; aim;
      line or point of tendency; direct line or course; as, the
      ship sailed in a southeasterly direction.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. The body of managers of a corporation or enterprise; board
      of directors.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. (Gun.) The pointing of a piece with reference to an
      imaginary vertical axis; -- distinguished from elevation.
      The direction is given when the plane of sight passes
      through the object. --Wilhelm.

   Syn: Administration; guidance; management; superintendence;
        oversight; government; order; command; guide; clew.

   Usage: Direction, Control, Command, Order. These
          words, as here compared, have reference to the
          exercise of power over the actions of others. Control
          is negative, denoting power to restrain; command is
          positive, implying a right to enforce obedience;
          directions are commands containing instructions how to
          act. Order conveys more prominently the idea of
          authority than the word direction. A shipmaster has
          the command of his vessel; he gives orders or
          directions to the seamen as to the mode of sailing it;
          and exercises a due control over the passengers.
          [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

direction
    n 1: a line leading to a place or point; "he looked the other
         direction"; "didn't know the way home" [syn: direction,
         way]
    2: the spatial relation between something and the course along
       which it points or moves; "he checked the direction and
       velocity of the wind"
    3: a general course along which something has a tendency to
       develop; "I couldn't follow the direction of his thoughts";
       "his ideals determined the direction of his career"; "they
       proposed a new direction for the firm"
    4: something that provides direction or advice as to a decision
       or course of action [syn: guidance, counsel,
       counseling, counselling, direction]
    5: the act of managing something; "he was given overall
       management of the program"; "is the direction of the economy
       a function of government?" [syn: management, direction]
    6: a message describing how something is to be done; "he gave
       directions faster than she could follow them" [syn:
       direction, instruction]
    7: the act of setting and holding a course; "a new council was
       installed under the direction of the king" [syn: steering,
       guidance, direction]
    8: a formal statement of a command or injunction to do
       something; "the judge's charge to the jury" [syn:
       commission, charge, direction]
    9: the concentration of attention or energy on something; "the
       focus of activity shifted to molecular biology"; "he had no
       direction in his life" [syn: focus, focusing,
       focussing, focal point, direction, centering]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

199 Moby Thesaurus words for "direction":
   Zeitgeist, action, actuation, address, administering,
   administration, admonition, advice, advising, advocacy, agency,
   angle, animation, arrow, avenue, bearing, billhead, blaze,
   briefing, catechization, caution, caveat, charge, civil government,
   coaching, command, commission, compass needle, conduct, conducting,
   consultation, control, council, counsel, course, current,
   destination, dictate, didactics, directing, direction post,
   directions, directive, directorate, directorship, discipline,
   dispensation, disposition, dress rehearsal, drift, driving,
   edification, education, empery, empire, enlightenment, execution,
   exercise, exhortation, expostulation, final instructions,
   finger post, fist, form of government, functioning, general orders,
   glacial movement, governance, governing, government, guidance,
   guide, guideboard, guidepost, guiding, hand, handling, hortation,
   hour hand, idea, illumination, index, index finger, influence,
   information, injunction, inner-direction, instruction,
   instructions, lead, leadership, letterhead, line, lubber line,
   main current, mainstream, management, managing, manipulation,
   milepost, minute hand, mise-en-scene, monition, motion, motivation,
   mounting, movement, moving, name and address, needle, occupation,
   operancy, operating, operation, opinion, order, orders,
   other-direction, outlook, oversight, parley, pedagogics, pedagogy,
   performance, performing, pointer, pointing, political organization,
   polity, postal zone, practice, precept, prescript, prescription,
   private teaching, production, programmed instruction, prompting,
   proposal, recommendation, reeducation, regime, regimen, regnancy,
   regulation, rehearsal, reign, remonstrance, responsibility, road,
   route, rule, run, run-through, running, schooling,
   self-instruction, self-teaching, set, side, signboard, signpost,
   slant, sovereignty, spoon-feeding, stage management, staging,
   standpoint, steering, stimulation, stream, suggestion,
   superscription, supervising, supervision, sway, swing,
   system of government, teaching, tenor, the general tendency,
   the main course, thought, time spirit, tone, trend, tuition,
   tutelage, tutorage, tutoring, tutorship, walk-through, warning,
   way, work, working, workings, zip code, zone



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

DIRECTION, practice. That part of a bill in chancery which contains the
address of the bill to the court; this must of course, contain the
appropriate and technical description of the court.



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

DIRECTION. The order and government of an institution; the persons who
compose the board of directors are jointly called the direction. Direction,
in another sense, is nearly synonymous with instruction. (q.v.)