multiplication

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French, from Old French multiplicacion, from Latin multiplicatio, multiplicationem; ~equivalent to multiplicate + -ion.

1. The process of computing the sum of an addition with one and the same number a specified number of times (i.e. 4 times 5 = [0 +] 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 20) or any other analogous binary operation that combines other mathematical objects.
2. A calculation involving multiplication.
3. The process of multiplying or increasing in number; increase.

   “If the lesser nobility have remained more numerous, it must be attributed partly to the gradual multiplication of letters of nobility, and partly to the state of indigence in which in some provinces vast numbers of the gentry lived, and which left them strangers to those habits of caution by which opulent families are governed.”