Re-lā'tion, n.
n. [Lat. relatio, Fr. relation, Pr. relatio, Sp. relacion, It. relazione. See RELATE and REFER.]
Sense 1. The act of relating or telling; also, that which is related; recital; account; narration; narrative of facts; as, an historical relation.
Sense 2. The state of being related or of referring; what is apprehended as appertaining to a being or quality, by considering it in its bearing upon something else; relative quality or condition; the being such and such with regard or respect to some other thing.
I have been importuned to make some observations on this art in relation to its agreement with poetry. Drayton.
Any sort of connection which is perceived or imagined between two or more things, or any comparison which is made by the mind, is a relation. I. Taylor.
Sense 3. Connection by consanguinity or affinity; kindred; tie of birth or marriage; relationship; as, the relation of parents and children.
Relations dear, and all the charities Of father, son, and brother, first were known. Milton.
Sense 4. A person connected by consanguinity or affinity; a relative; a kinsman or kinswoman.
Sense 5. (Law.) The carrying back and giving effect or operation to an act or proceeding from some previous date or time, by a sort of fiction, as if it had happened or begun at that time. Wharton. Burrill.
Synonyms—Recital; rehearsal; narration; account; narrative; tale; detail; description; kindred; consanguinity; affinity; kinsman; kinswoman.