The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Settlement \Set"tle*ment\, n.
   1. The act of setting, or the state of being settled.
      Specifically:
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      (a) Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.;
          ordination or installation as pastor.
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                Every man living has a design in his head upon
                wealth power, or settlement in the world.
                                                  --L'Estrange.
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      (b) The act of peopling, or state of being peopled; act of
          planting, as a colony; colonization; occupation by
          settlers; as, the settlement of a new country.
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      (c) The act or process of adjusting or determining;
          composure of doubts or differences; pacification;
          liquidation of accounts; arrangement; adjustment; as,
          settlement of a controversy, of accounts, etc.
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      (d) Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction;
          the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal
          and permanent manner.
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                My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures
                take,
                With settlement as good as law can make.
                                                  --Dryden.
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      (e) (Law) A disposition of property for the benefit of
          some person or persons, usually through the medium of
          trustees, and for the benefit of a wife, children, or
          other relatives; jointure granted to a wife, or the
          act of granting it.
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   2. That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
      Specifically:
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      (a) Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees;
          dregs. [Obs.]
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                Fuller's earth left a thick settlement.
                                                  --Mortimer.
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      (b) A colony newly established; a place or region newly
          settled; as, settlement in the West.
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      (c) That which is bestowed formally and permanently; the
          sum secured to a person; especially, a jointure made
          to a woman at her marriage; also, in the United
          States, a sum of money or other property formerly
          granted to a pastor in additional to his salary.
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   3. (Arch.)
      (a) The gradual sinking of a building, whether by the
          yielding of the ground under the foundation, or by the
          compression of the joints or the material.
      (b) pl. Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
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   4. (Law) A settled place of abode; residence; a right growing
      out of residence; legal residence or establishment of a
      person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him
      to maintenance if a pauper, and subjects the parish or
      town to his support. --Blackstone. Bouvier.
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   Act of settlement (Eng. Hist.), the statute of 12 and 13
      William III, by which the crown was limited to the present
      reigning house (the house of Hanover). --Blackstone.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

settlement
    n 1: a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties
         with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their
         home state but are not literally under the home state's
         system of government; "the American colony in Paris" [syn:
         colony, settlement]
    2: a community of people smaller than a town [syn: village,
       small town, settlement]
    3: a conclusive resolution of a matter and disposition of it
    4: the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies; "the
       British colonization of America" [syn: colonization,
       colonisation, settlement]
    5: something settled or resolved; the outcome of decision
       making; "they finally reached a settlement with the union";
       "they never did achieve a final resolution of their
       differences"; "he needed to grieve before he could achieve a
       sense of closure" [syn: settlement, resolution,
       closure]
    6: an area where a group of families live together
    7: termination of a business operation by using its assets to
       discharge its liabilities [syn: liquidation, settlement]