protection

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of protecting.
• noun The condition of being protected.
• noun One that protects.
• noun A pass guaranteeing safe-conduct to travelers.
• noun Something that lowers the risk of pregnancy or infection, especially the use of a condom.
• noun Payment collected by racketeers from businesses or illegal enterprises under threat of violence.
• noun Payment made by racketeers to officials or law enforcement to avoid arrest or prosecution.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of protecting, or the state of being protected; defense; shelter or preservation from loss, injury, or any form of harm or evil: as, the protection of good laws; divine protection.
• noun That which protects or shields from harm; something that preserves from injury: as, camphor serves as a protection against moths.
• noun A writing that guarantees protection; a passport, safe-conduct, or other writing which secures the bearer from molestation; especially, a certificate of nationality issued by the customs authorities of the United States to seamen who are American citizens.
• noun In political economics, the theory, doctrine, or system of fostering or developing the industries of a country by means of imposts on products of the industries imported into that country; the discouragement of foreign competition with the industries of a country by imposing import duties, granting monopolies of commerce, etc.
• noun A writ issued to a person required to attend court as witness, juror, etc., to secure him from arrest for a certain time. Synonyms Guard, refuge, security.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of protecting, or the state of being protected; preservation from loss, injury, or annoyance; defense; shelter.
• noun That which protects or preserves from injury; a defense; a shield; a refuge.
• noun A writing that protects or secures from molestation or arrest; a pass; a safe-conduct; a passport.
• noun (Polit. Econ.) A theory, or a policy, of protecting the producers in a country from foreign competition in the home market by the imposition of such discriminating duties on goods of foreign production as will restrict or prevent their importation; -- opposed to free trade.
• noun (Law), [Eng.] A judicial writ issued to a person required to attend court, as party, juror, etc., intended to secure him from arrest in coming, staying, and returning.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The process of keeping (something or someone) safe.
• noun The state of being safe.
• noun A contraceptive device.
• noun insurance Coverage.
• noun Immunity from harm obtained by illegal payments, as bribery or extortion.
• noun economics Restrictions on foreign competitors that limit their ability to compete with domestic producers of goods or services.
• noun computing An instance of a security token associated with a resource (such as a file.)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the activity of protecting someone or something
• noun the imposition of duties or quotas on imports in order to protect domestic industry against foreign competition
• noun the condition of being protected
• noun kindly endorsement and guidance
• noun a covering that is intend to protect from damage or injury
• noun defense against financial failure; financial independence
• noun payment extorted by gangsters on threat of violence