The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Salutation \Sal`u*ta"tion\, n. [L. salutatio: cf. F. salutation.
   See Salute.]
   The act of saluting, or paying respect or reverence, by the
   customary words or actions; the act of greeting, or
   expressing good will or courtesy; also, that which is uttered
   or done in saluting or greeting.
   [1913 Webster]

         In all public meetings or private addresses, use those
         forms of salutation, reverence, and decency usual
         amongst the most sober persons.          --Jer. Taylor.
   [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Greeting; salute; address.

   Usage: Salutation, Greeting, Salute. Greeting is the
          general word for all manner of expressions of
          recognition, agreeable or otherwise, made when persons
          meet or communicate with each other. A greeting may be
          hearty and loving, chilling and offensive, or merely
          formal, as in the opening sentence of legal documents.
          Salutation more definitely implies a wishing well, and
          is used of expressions at parting as well as at
          meeting. It is used especially of uttered expressions
          of good will. Salute, while formerly and sometimes
          still in the sense of either greeting or salutation,
          is now used specifically to denote a conventional
          demonstration not expressed in words. The guests
          received a greeting which relieved their
          embarrassment, offered their salutations in
          well-chosen terms, and when they retired, as when they
          entered, made a deferential salute.
          [1913 Webster]

                Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the
                uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings
                in the markets.                   --Luke xi. 43.
          [1913 Webster]

                When Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the
                babe leaped in her womb.          --Luke i. 41.
          [1913 Webster]

                I shall not trouble my reader with the first
                salutes of our three friends.     --Addison.
          [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

salutation
    n 1: an act of honor or courteous recognition; "a musical salute
         to the composer on his birthday" [syn: salute,
         salutation]
    2: (usually plural) an acknowledgment or expression of good will
       (especially on meeting) [syn: greeting, salutation]
    3: word of greeting used to begin a letter

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

44 Moby Thesaurus words for "salutation":
   accost, address, bend, bending the knee, bob, bow,
   bowing and scraping, citation, curtsy, dipping the colors, embrace,
   eulogy, genuflection, greeting, hail, hand-clasp, handshake, hello,
   homage, how-do-you-do, hug, inclination, kiss, kneeling, kowtow,
   making a leg, nod, obeisance, obsequiousness, panegyric,
   presenting arms, prostration, reverence, salaam, salute, scrape,
   servility, smile, smile of recognition, standing at attention,
   submission, submissiveness, tribute, wave



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Salutation
   "Eastern modes of salutation are not unfrequently so prolonged
   as to become wearisome and a positive waste of time. The
   profusely polite Arab asks so many questions after your health,
   your happiness, your welfare, your house, and other things, that
   a person ignorant of the habits of the country would imagine
   there must be some secret ailment or mysterious sorrow
   oppressing you, which you wished to conceal, so as to spare the
   feelings of a dear, sympathizing friend, but which he, in the
   depth of his anxiety, would desire to hear of. I have often
   listened to these prolonged salutations in the house, the
   street, and the highway, and not unfrequently I have experienced
   their tedious monotony, and I have bitterly lamented useless
   waste of time" (Porter, Through Samaria, etc.). The work on
   which the disciples were sent forth was one of urgency, which
   left no time for empty compliments and prolonged greetings (Luke
   10:4).