Noun

(en noun)

A visual representation of an area, whether real or imaginary.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March–April

, author= , title=Pixels or Perish , volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine= citation , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps , diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}

(mathematics)   A function.

The discrete topology is always continuous, therefore functions with discrete domains are always maps.

(topology)   A continuous function.

A diagram of components of an item.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April

, author= , title=Well-connected Brains , volume=100, issue=2, page=171 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.}}

The butterfly .

(UK, old-fashioned)   Someone's face.

* {{quote-book

, year=1960 , author= , title=(Jeeves in the Offing) , section=chapter X , passage=And as the eye rested on him, he too filled me with pity and terror, for his map was flushed and his manner distraught. He looked like Jack Dempsey at the conclusion of his first conference with Gene Tunney, the occasion, if you remember, when he forgot to duck.}}

(board games, computer games)   A predefined and confined imaginary area where a game session takes place.

"I don't want to play this map again!"

Noun

(en-noun)

The womb.

* 1646 , Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica , III.17:

upon conception the inward orifice of the matrix exactly closeth, so that it commonly admitteth nothing after [...].

* 1969 , Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor , Penguin 2011, p. 296:

In very rare cases, when the matrix just goes on pegging away automatically, the doctor can take advantage of that and ease out the second brat who then can be considered to be, say, three minutes younger [...].

(biology) The material or tissue in which more specialized structures are embedded.

(biology) An extracellular matrix, the material or tissue between the cells of animals or plants.

(biology) Part of the mitochondrion.

(biology) The medium in which bacteria are cultured.

(mathematics) A rectangular arrangement of numbers or terms having various uses such as transforming coordinates in geometry, solving systems of linear equations in linear algebra and representing graphs in graph theory.

(computing) A two-dimensional array.

A table of data.

(geology) A geological matrix, the outer material of a rock consisting of larger grains embedded in a material consisting of smaller ones.

(archaeology and paleontology) The sediment surrounding and including the artifacts, features, and other materials at a site.

(analytical chemistry) The environment from which a given sample is taken.