control: Meaning and Definition of

con•trol

1. to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command.
2. to hold in check; curb: to control a horse; to control one's emotions.
3. to test or verify (a scientific experiment) by a parallel experiment or other standard of comparison.
4. to eliminate or prevent the flourishing or spread of: to control a forest fire.
5. to check or regulate (transactions), originally by means of a duplicate register.

1. the act or power of controlling; regulation; domination or command: Who's in control here?
2. the situation of being under the regulation, domination, or command of another: The car is out of control.
3. check or restraint: Her anger is under control.
4. a legal or official means of regulation or restraint: to institute wage and price controls.
5. a standard of comparison in scientific experimentation.
6. a person who acts as a check; controller.
7. a device for regulating and guiding a machine, as a motor or airplane.
8. a coordinated arrangement of such devices.
9. prevention of the flourishing or spread of something undesirable: rodent control.
10. the ability of a pitcher to throw the ball into the strike zone consistently: The rookie pitcher has great power but no control.
11. any device printed on a postage or revenue stamp to authenticate it as a government issue or to identify it for bookkeeping purposes.
12. a spiritual agency believed to assist a medium at a séance.
13. the supervisor to whom an espionage agent reports when in the field.