Noun

(en-noun)

An alphabetical listing of items and their location.

The index of a book lists words or expressions and the pages of the book upon which they are to be found.

The index finger; the forefinger.

A movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc.

(printing) A symbol resembling a pointing hand, used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph.

That which points out; that which shows, indicates, manifests, or discloses.

* Arbuthnot

Tastes are the indexes of the different qualities of plants.

A sign; an indication; a token.

* Robert Louis Stevenson

His son's empty guffaws struck him with pain as the indices of a weak mind.

(linguistics) A type of noun where the meaning of the form changes with respect to the context. E.g., 'Today's newspaper' is an indexical form since its referent will differ depending on the context. See also icon and symbol.

(economics) A single number calculated from an array of prices or of quantities.

(science) A number representing a property or ratio, a coefficient.

(mathematics) A raised suffix indicating a power.

(programming, computing) An integer or other key indicating the location of data e.g. within an array, vector, database table, associative array, or hash table.

(computing, databases) A data structure that improves the performance of operations on a table.

(obsolete) A prologue indicating what follows.

(Shakespeare)

Noun

(en noun)

(typography) The edge of the paper that remains blank.

The edge or border of any flat surface.

* {{quote-book, year=1913, author=

, title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=4 citation , passage=Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge.}}

*

The lobule margins , furthermore, are arched away from the lobe, with the consequence that (when fully inflated) the abaxial leaf surface forms the interior lining of the lobule.

(figuratively) The edge defining inclusion in or exclusion from of a set or group.

* 1999 , Pierre François, ''Inlets of the Soul: Contemporary Fiction in English and the Myth of the Fall, page 186,

As far as space is concerned, Mary Lamb finds herself at the farthest margin of society - among tramps - when the novel begins.

A difference between results, characteristics, scores.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=April 15 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Chelsea will point to that victory margin as confirmation of their superiority - but Spurs will complain their hopes of turning the game around were damaged fatally by Atkinson's decision.}}

A permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits.

margin of error

(finance) The yield or profit; the selling price minus the cost of production.

(finance) Collateral security deposited with a broker to secure him from loss on contracts entered into by him on behalf of his principial, as in the speculative buying and selling of stocks, wheat, etc.