Noun

(en noun)

That which is done or is to be done; matter; concern; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public; — often in the plural.

:

Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely.

:

(lb) An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.

A material object (vaguely designated).

:

*

*:The house was a big elaborate limestone affair , evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.

*{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)

, title= The Three Corpse Trick, section=chapter 5 , passage=The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.}}

An adulterous relationship (from affaire de cœur ).

Noun

(en noun)

One who controls something.

* (rfdate) (Dryden)

The great controller of our fate / Deigned to be man, and lived in low estate.

(business) A person who audits, and manages the financial affairs of a company or government; a comptroller.

(computing) A mechanism that controls or regulates the operation of a machine, especially a peripheral device in a computer.

(nautical) An iron block, usually bolted to a ship's deck, for controlling the running out of a chain cable. The links of the cable tend to drop into hollows in the block, and thus hold fast until disengaged.