Direction \Di*rec"tion\, n. [L. directio: cf. F. direction.]

1. The act of directing, of aiming, regulating, guiding, or ordering; guidance; management; superintendence; administration; as, the direction o? public affairs or of a bank.

I do commit his youth To your direction. --Shak.

All nature is but art, unknown to thee; ll chance, direction, which thou canst not see. --Pope.

2. That which is imposed by directing; a guiding or authoritative instruction; prescription; order; command; as, he grave directions to the servants.

The princes digged the well . . . by the direction of the law giver. --Numb. xxi. 18.

3. The name and residence of a person to whom any thing is sent, written upon the thing sent; superscription; address; as, the direction of a letter.

4. The line or course upon which anything is moving or aimed to move, or in which anything is lying or pointing; aim; line or point of tendency; direct line or course; as, the ship sailed in a southeasterly direction.

5. The body of managers of a corporation or enterprise; board of directors.

6. (Gun.) The pointing of a piece with reference to an imaginary vertical axis; -- distinguished from elevation. The direction is given when the plane of sight passes through the object. --Wilhelm.

Syn: Administration; guidance; management; superintendence; oversight; government; order; command; guide; clew.

Usage: Direction, Control, Command, Order. These words, as here compared, have reference to the exercise of power over the actions of others. Control is negative, denoting power to restrain; command is positive, implying a right to enforce obedience; directions are commands containing instructions how to act. Order conveys more prominently the idea of authority than the word direction. A shipmaster has the command of his vessel; he gives orders or directions to the seamen as to the mode of sailing it; and exercises a due control over the passengers.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)