Noun

(en noun)

A butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.

A goal or objective.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.

A kind of small shield or buckler, used as a defensive weapon in war.

* 1598 , William Shakespeare, Henry IV , Part I, Act II, Scene IV, line 200,

These four came all afront, and mainly thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven points in my target , thus.

(obsolete) A shield resembling the Roman scutum. In modern usage, a smaller variety of shield is usually implied by this term.

* 1786 , Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons , page 22,

The target or buckler was carried by the heavy armed foot, it answered to the scutum of the Romans; its form was sometimes that of a rectangular parallelogram, but more commonly had its bottom rounded off; it was generally convex, being curved in its breadth.

(sports) The pattern or arrangement of a series of hits made by a marksman on a butt or mark.

(surveying) The sliding crosspiece, or vane, on a leveling staff.

(rail transport) A conspicuous disk attached to a switch lever to show its position, or for use as a signal.

(cricket) the number of runs that the side batting last needs to score in the final innings in order to win

(linguistics) The tenor of a metaphor.

(translation studies) The translated version of a document, or the language into which translation occurs.

A person (or group of people) that a person or organization is trying to employ or to have as a customer, audience etc.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 2, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC

, title= Bulgaria 0-3 England , passage=Gary Cahill, a target for Arsenal and Tottenham before the transfer window closed, put England ahead early on and Rooney was on target twice before the interval as the early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.}}

Noun

(en noun)

The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen.

*

*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

That which is expected or looked for.

*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/1

, passage=And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties?; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay,

The prospect of the future; grounds upon which something excellent is expected to occur; prospect of anything good to come, especially of property or rank.

*1816 , (Jane Austen), , Vol.1 Ch.7:

*:Emma was not sorry to be pressed. She read, and was surprized. The style of the letter was much above her expectation . There were not merely no grammatical errors, but as a composition it would not have disgraced a gentleman; the language, though plain, was strong and unaffected, and the sentiments it conveyed very much to the credit of the writer. It was short, but expressed good sense, warm attachment, liberality, propriety, even delicacy of feeling. She paused over it, while Harriet stood anxiously watching for her opinion, with a "Well, well," and was at last forced to add, "Is it a good letter? or is it too short?"

The value of any chance (as the prospect of prize or property) which depends upon some contingent event.

(lb) The first moment; the long-run average value of a variable over many independent repetitions of an experiment.

(lb) The arithmetic mean.

The leaving of a disease principally to the efforts of nature to effect a cure.