map

Shortening of Middle English mappemounde, mapemounde (“world map”), from Old French mapamonde, from Medieval Latin mappa mundī, compound of Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”) and mundus (“world”).

• (Received Pronunciation) & (US): enPR: măp, IPA^(key): /mæp/

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• Rhymes: -æp

map (plural maps)

1. A visual representation of an area, whether real or imaginary.
   • 2012 March–April, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 106:

     Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Anna, it is a map.

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2. A graphical representation of the relationships between objects, components or themes.
   • 2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 171:

     Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.

3. (mathematics) A function.

   Let ${\displaystyle f}$ be a map from ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} }$ to ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} }$

4. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genera Araschnia (especially, Araschnia levana) and Cyrestis, having map-like markings on the wings.
5. (Britain, old-fashioned) The face.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X:

     And as the eye rested on him, he too filled me with pity and terror, for his map was flushed and his manner distraught. He looked like Jack Dempsey at the conclusion of his first conference with Gene Tunney, the occasion, if you remember, when he forgot to duck.

6. (board games, video games) An imaginary or fictional area, often predefined and confined, where a game or a session thereof takes place.

   I don't want to play this map again!

   • 2015 February 14, Steven Strom, “Evolve Review: Middle of the food chain”, in Ars Technica‎:

     On top of that, each of Evolve's maps are dim, open arenas with little to interact with besides the occasional hostile organism.

For the most part, map and function are synonyms in mathematics, and are frequently used interchangably, however certain branches of mathematics sometimes use map in a specialised sense to mean a function that preserves some important property in that branch of mathematics, i.e. a morphism. For instance, in topology, map may specifically mean a continuous function, and in linear algebra it may specifically mean a linear transformation.

• plan
• chart
• (mathematics): mapping, function.

map (third-person singular simple present maps, present participle mapping, simple past and past participle mapped)

1. To create a visual representation of a territory, etc. via cartography.
2. To inform someone of a particular idea.
3. (mathematics, transitive, followed by a "to" phrase) To act as a function on something, taking it to something else.

   ${\displaystyle f}$ maps ${\displaystyle A}$ to ${\displaystyle B}$ , mapping every ${\displaystyle a\in A}$ to ${\displaystyle f(a)\in B}$ .

4. (transitive, followed by a "to" phrase) To have a direct relationship; to correspond.

• map out

• AMP, APM, MPA, PAM, Pam, amp, p.m.a., pam, pma

Cognate with Breton mab, Old Irish macc.

map m (plural mebyow)

1. son
2. boy

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• Rhymes: -ɑp

map f (plural mappen, diminutive mapje n)

1. folder
2. (computing) directory, folder

• IPA^(key): /map/

map f

1. genitive plural of mapa

map m (genitive singular map, plural mapaichean)

1. Alternative form of mapa

map f

1. map