Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Permutation
1.
The act of permuting; exchange of the thing for another; mutual transference; interchange.
The violent convulsions and
permutations
that have been made in property. Burke.
2.
(Math.)
(a)
The arrangement of any determinate number of things, as units, objects, letters, etc., in all possible orders, one after the other; – called also , 4.
alternation
. Cf. Combination
, Noun.
(b)
Any one of such possible arrangements.
3.
(Law)
Barter; exchange.
Permutation lock
, a lock in which the parts can be transposed or shifted, so as to require different arrangements of the tumblers on different occasions of unlocking.
Webster 1828 Edition
Permutation
PERMUTA'TION
,Noun.
1.
In commerce, exchange of one thing for another; barter.2.
In the canon law, the exchange of one benefice for another.3.
In algebra, change or different combination of any number of quantities.