[al.ge.bra] n [ML, fr. Ar al-jabr, lit., the reduction] (1551) 1: a generalization of arithmetic in which letters representing numbers are combined according to the rules of arithmetic
2: any of various systems or branches of mathematics or logic concerned with the properties and relationships of abstract entities (as complex numbers, matrices, sets, vectors, groups, rings, or fields) manipulated in symbolic form under operations often analogous to those of arithmetic--compare boolean algebra -- al.ge.bra.ist n