1. (n.) The act of tracing anything from a source\; the act of procuring an effect from a cause, means, or condition, as profits from capital, conclusions or opinions from evidence.
2. (n.) A leading or drawing off of water from a stream or source.
3. (n.) The act of tracing origin or descent, as in grammar or genealogy; as, the derivation of a word from an Aryan root.
4. (n.) The state or method of being derived; the relation of origin when established or asserted.
5. (n.) That from which a thing is derived.
6. (n.) That which is derived; a derivative; a deduction.
7. (n.) The operation of deducing one function from another according to some fixed law, called the law of derivation, as the of differentiation or of integration.
8. (n.) A drawing of humors or fluids from one part of the body to another, to relieve or lessen a morbid process.