topology

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Topographic study of a given place, especially the history of a region as indicated by its topography.
2. n. Medicine The anatomical structure of a specific area or part of the body.
3. n. Mathematics The study of the properties of geometric figures or solids that are not changed by homeomorphisms, such as stretching or bending. Donuts and picture frames are topologically equivalent, for example.
4. n. Computer Science The arrangement in which the nodes of a LAN are connected to each other.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The study and description of the localities in a particular district.
2. n. The art or method of assisting the memory by associating the objects to be remembered with some place which is well known.
3. n. A branch of geometry having reference to the modes of connection of lines and surfaces, but not to their shapes.

Wiktionary

1. n. mathematics A branch of mathematics studying those properties of a geometric figure or solid that are not changed by stretching, bending and similar homeomorphisms.
2. n. mathematics A collection τ of subsets of a set X such that the empty set and X are both members of τ and τ is closed under arbitrary unions and finite intersections.
3. n. medicine The anatomical structure of part of the body.
4. n. computing The arrangement of nodes in a communications network.
5. n. technology The properties of a particular technological embodiment that are not affected by differences in the physical layout or form of its application.
6. n. The topographical study of geographic locations or given places in relation to its history.
7. n. dated The art of, or method for, assisting the memory by associating the thing or subject to be remembered with some place.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. rare The art of, or method for, assisting the memory by associating the thing or subject to be remembered with some place.
2. n. a branch of mathematics which studies the properties of geometrical forms which retain their identity under certain transformations, such as stretching or twisting, which are homeomorphic. See also topologist.
3. n. configuration, especially in three dimensions; -- used, e. g. of the configurations taken by macromolecules, such as superhelical DNA.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. topographic study of a given place (especially the history of the place as indicated by its topography)
2. n. the configuration of a communication network
3. n. the study of anatomy based on regions or divisions of the body and emphasizing the relations between various structures (muscles and nerves and arteries etc.) in that region
4. n. the branch of pure mathematics that deals only with the properties of a figure X that hold for every figure into which X can be transformed with a one-to-one correspondence that is continuous in both directions