architecture
    n 1: an architectural product or work
    2: the discipline dealing with the principles of design and
       construction and ornamentation of fine buildings;
       "architecture and eloquence are mixed arts whose end is
       sometimes beauty and sometimes use"
    3: the profession of designing buildings and environments with
       consideration for their esthetic effect
    4: (computer science) the structure and organization of a
       computer's hardware or system software; "the architecture of
       a computer's system software" [syn: computer architecture,
       architecture]

Architecture \Ar"chi*tec`ture\ (?; 135), n. [L. architectura,
   fr. architectus: cf. F. architecture. See Architect.]
   1. The art or science of building; especially, the art of
      building houses, churches, bridges, and other structures,
      for the purposes of civil life; -- often called civil
      architecture.
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            Many other architectures besides Gothic. --Ruskin.
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   3. Construction, in a more general sense; frame or structure;
      workmanship.
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            The architecture of grasses, plants, and trees.
                                                  --Tyndall.
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            The formation of the first earth being a piece of
            divine architecture.                  --Burnet.
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   Military architecture, the art of fortifications.

   Naval architecture, the art of building ships.
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architecture

    Design, the way components fit together.  The
   term is used particularly of processors, both individual and
   in general.  "The ARM has a really clean architecture".  It
   may also be used of any complex system, e.g. "software
   architecture", "network architecture".

   (1995-05-02)