noun

1. a level surface or piece of ground
2. a part of the earth's surface; region; tract
3. the measure of a bounded region on a plane or of the surface of a solid
4. a yard of a building
5. a part of a house, lot, district, city, etc. having a specific use or character dining area, play area, commercial area
6. a part of any surface, as of an organism, or a particular zone, as of the cerebral cortex
7. scope or extent, as of an operation

Etymology: L, vacant place, courtyard, prob. (in sense “arid, bare place”) < arere, to be dry: see ash