term

noun

1. That which limits the extent of anything; limit, extremity, bound, boundary, terminus.

   “Corruption is a reciprocal to generation, and they two are as nature's two terms, or boundaries.”

   “At the decline of day, Winding above the mountain’s snowy term, New banners shone: […]”

   “"Alright, look...we can spend the holidays with your parents, but this time it will be on my terms."”

2. A chronological limitation or restriction, a limited timespan.

   “The term of a lease agreement is the period of time during which the lease is effective, and may be fixed, periodic, or of indefinite duration.”

3. Any of the binding conditions or promises in a legal contract.

   “Be sure to read the terms and conditions before signing.”

4. Specifically, the conditions in a legal contract that specify the price and also how and when payment must be made.

   “Q: What are your company's terms? A: Net thirty, cash or check. [This answer means that the net total must be paid within 30 days; see Net D.]”

   “The latest models are available now, on the lowest terms you'll find anywhere, guaranteed.”

   “The Cabin is large and commodious, well calculated for the Accommodation of Paſengers. Merchandiſe, Produce, &c. carried on the loweſt Terms.”

5. (archaic)A point, line, or superficies that limits.

   “A line is the term of a superficies, and a superficies is the term of a solid.”

6. A word or phrase (e.g., noun phrase, verb phrase, open compound), especially one from a specialised area of knowledge; a name for a concept.

   “"Algorithm" is a term used in computer science.”

   “The noun phrase "red blood cell", the acronym "RBC", and the word "erythrocyte" are synonymous terms.”

7. Relations among people.

   “We are on friendly terms with each other.”

   “Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.[…]Next day she[…]tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.”

8. Part of a year, especially one of the divisions of an academic year.

   “From 1960 to 1963 I spent my terms at Cambridge University but was back home for the vacs[.]”

9. Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.

   “He was sentenced to a term of six years in prison.”

   “near-term, mid-term and long-term goals”

   “the term allowed to a debtor to discharge his debt”

   ““I don’t believe that the people trust Netanyahu to lead when he is under the burden of such a devastating event that just happened under his term,” he told the Observer.”

10. Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.
11. Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.
12. With respect to a pregnancy, the usual duration of gestation for the given species (for example, nine months in humans); (metonymic) the end of this duration: the timepoint at which birth usually happens (for example, in humans, approximately 40 weeks from conception), defining the due date.

    “A pregnancy didn't come to term.”

    “at term”

    “preterm”

    “postterm”

13. The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.
14. (archaic)A menstrual period.

    “My wife, after the absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again.”

15. Any value (variable or constant) or expression separated from another term by a space or an appropriate character, in an overall expression or table.

    “All the terms of this sum cancel out.”

    “One only term is odd in ( 12; 3; 4 ).”

16. The subject or the predicate of a proposition; one of the three component parts of a syllogism, each one of which is used twice.

    “The subject and predicate of a proposition are, after Aristotle, together called its terms or extremes.”

17. An essential dignity in which unequal segments of every astrological sign have internal rulerships which affect the power and integrity of each planet in a natal chart.
18. A statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal.

    “The pillers that haue bolſtered vp thoſe tearmes, Are falne in cluſters at my conquering feet.”

    “You have been already informed, I have no doubt, of the subject which we have chosen: the adorning a Term of Hymen with festoons of flowers.”

19. A piece of carved work placed under each end of the taffrail.
20. (informal)A computer program that emulates a physical terminal.
21. One whose employment has been terminated

verb

1. (transitive)To phrase a certain way; to name or call.

   “Abstraction or prescision ought to be carefully distinguished from two other modes of mental separation, which may be termed discrimination and dissociation.”

   “The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.”

2. (ambitransitive, informal)To terminate someone's employment.
3. (informal, transitive)To delete someone's account.

adj

1. (colloquial, not-comparable)Born or delivered at term.

   “term neonate”