maps

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of map.

   The library keeps dozens of historical maps in its archive.

   Sailors once relied on hand-drawn maps to cross the ocean.

   Note

   One plural covers every kind of map the singular names. That includes road maps and star charts, and also the mathematician's maps, functions such as continuous or linear maps. It names a group of butterflies whose wings carry map-like markings, and the confined arenas where a game's matches are played. The same letters also spell the present-tense verb, so only the grammar tells "the coast's maps" from "she maps the coast."

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of map.

   The biologist maps the spread of the disease across the region.

   This program maps user clicks onto a color-coded chart.

   Note

   Most of its uses take a direct object. A surveyor maps a coastline, a function maps each input to an output, and an administrator maps a shared folder to a drive letter. One use stands alone without an object and means "corresponds": one scheme maps onto another. The preposition carries the relationship, and dropping the object turns making a correspondence into simply having one.

   Each step in the old procedure maps onto a step in the new one.

   The function maps every real number to its square.

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