declaration

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An explicit, formal announcement, either oral or written.
2. n. The act or process of declaring.
3. n. A statement of taxable goods or of properties subject to duty.
4. n. Law A formal statement by a plaintiff specifying the facts and circumstances constituting his or her cause of action.
5. n. Law An unsworn statement of facts that is admissible as evidence.
6. n. Games A bid, especially the final bid of a hand in certain card games.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A clearing up; that which makes plain; explanation.
2. n. A positive or formal statement in regard to anything; affirmation; explicit assertion; avowal; publication; proclamation.
3. n. That which is proclaimed or declared; specifically, the document or instrument by which an announcement or assertion is formally made: as, the Declaration of Independence.
4. n. In law: At common law, the pleading in which the plaintiff formally presents the allegations on which he bases his claim for relief in a civil action: now more commonly called complaint.
5. n. In the criminal law of Scotland, the account which a prisoner who has been apprehended on suspicion of having committed a crime gives of himself, to be taken down in writing, on his examination.
6. n. A confession of faith or doctrine: as, the Auburn Declaration; the Savoy Declaration, etc.
7. n. In card-playing, an announcement or meld; in bridge, specifically, the naming of the trump suit by the dealer. Sometimes called the make.
8. n. the neutral flag covers enemy's goods, except when contraband;
9. n. neutral goods, except when contraband, are not liable to capture under an enemy's flag;
10. n. blockades to be binding must be effective. The United States refused to accept the first of these, but concurred in the others.

Wiktionary

1. n. A written or oral indication of a fact, opinion, or belief.
2. n. A list of items for various legal purposes, e.g. customs declaration.
3. n. The act or process of declaring.
4. n. cricket The act, by the captain of a batting side, of declaring an innings closed.
5. n. law In common law, the formal document specifying plaintiff’s cause of action, including the facts necessary to sustain a proper cause of action, and to advise the defendant of the grounds upon which he is being sued.
6. n. computing The specification of a variables type

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of declaring, or publicly announcing; explicit asserting; undisguised token of a ground or side taken on any subject; proclamation; exposition.
2. n. That which is declared or proclaimed; announcement; distinct statement; formal expression; avowal.
3. n. The document or instrument containing such statement or proclamation.
4. n. (Law) That part of the process or pleadings in which the plaintiff sets forth in order and at large his cause of complaint; the narration of the plaintiff's case containing the count, or counts. See Count, n., 3.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a formal public statement
2. n. a statement that is emphatic and explicit (spoken or written)
3. n. (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make
4. n. (law) unsworn statement that can be admitted in evidence in a legal transaction
5. n. a statement of taxable goods or of dutiable properties
6. n. a formal expression by a meeting; agreed to by a vote