The act of laying on; as the application of emollients to a diseased limb.

The thing applied; as, the pain was abated by the application.

The act of making request or soliciting; as, he made application to a court of chancery.

The act of applying as means; the employment of means; as, children may be governed by a suitable application of rewards and punishments. This is the first signification directed to moral objects.

The act of fixing the mind; intenseness of thought; close study; attention; as, to injure the health by application to study. Had his application been equal to his talents, his progress might have been greater.

The act of directing or referring something to a particular case, to discover or illustrate the agreement or disagreement; as, I make the remark and leave you to make the application.

In theology, the act by which the merits of Christ are transferred to man, for his justification.

In geometry, a division for applying one quantity to another, whose areas, but not figures, shall be the same; or the transferring a given line into a circle or other figure, so that its ends shall be in the perimeter of the figure.

In sermons, that part of the discourse, in which the principles before laid down and illustrated, are applied to practical uses.