oblation

n 1: the act of contributing to the funds of a church or charity;

"oblations for aid to the poor" [syn: {offering}]

2: the act of offering the bread and wine of the Eucharist

[syn: {Oblation}, {religious offering}]

relation

1. A subset of the {product} of two sets, R : A

x B. If (a, b) is an element of R then we write a R b,

meaning a is related to b by R. A relation may be:

{reflexive} (a R a), {symmetric} (a R b ◦> b R a),

{transitive} (a R b & b R c ◦> a R c), {antisymmetric} (a R b

& b R a ◦> a ◦ b) or {total} (a R b or b R a).

See {equivalence relation}, {partial ordering}, {pre-order},

{total ordering}.

2. A {table} in a {relational database}.

(1995-02-28)