n.
group of items serving a common purpose
1) an air-conditioning; amplifying; brake; data-processing; filing; guidance; heating; highway ( AE ), motorway ( BE ), road; intercommunication; life-support; number; public-address; railroad ( AE ), railway ( BE ); sprinkler; steering; transit ( esp. AE ), transport ( esp. BE )
form of organization, principles pertaining to a form of organization
~
2) a capitalist; caste; communist; Copernican; economic; educational, school; electoral; governmental; hierarchical; honor; merit; multiparty; one-party; patronage; philosophical; political; quota; seniority; socialist; spoils; two-party ~
3) ( colloq. ) ( AE ) a buddy ~
4) under a ~ (under our political ~)
5) ( misc. ) to beat the ~ ('to circumvent established procedures')
group of items forming a unified whole in nature
6) an eco~; mountain; river; solar ~
functionally related group of bodily elements or structures
7) the cardiovascular; central nervous; circulatory; digestive; excretory; genito-urinary; immune; reproductive; respiratory ~
classification
type of measurement
8) a decimal; metric; monetary; taxonomic ~
group of substances in or approaching equilibrium
(chemistry)
9) a binary; ternary ~
set of meteorological conditions
10) a high-pressure; low-pressure ~
procedure
11) the touch ~ (of typing)
elements that allow the operation of a computer
12) to boot up; reboot a ~
13) a disk operating, operating ~
misc.
14) ~s analysis; ~s theory