资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Independence \In`de*pend"ence\, n. [Cf. F. ind['e]pendance.]
   1. The state or quality of being independent; freedom from
      dependence; exemption from reliance on, or control by,
      others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of
      one's own affairs without interference.

            Let fortune do her worst, . . . as long as she never
            makes us lose our honesty and our independence.
                                                  --Pope.

   2. Sufficient means for a comfortable livelihood.

   {Declaration of Independence} (Amer. Hist.), the declaration
      of the Congress of the Thirteen United States of America,
      on the 4th of July, 1776, by which they formally declared
      that these colonies were free and independent States, not
      subject to the government of Great Britain.

Declaration \Dec`la*ra"tion\, n. [F. d['e]claration, fr. L.
   declaratio, fr. declarare. See {Declare}.]
   1. The act of declaring, or publicly announcing; explicit
      asserting; undisguised token of a ground or side taken on
      any subject; proclamation; exposition; as, the declaration
      of an opinion; a declaration of war, etc.

   2. That which is declared or proclaimed; announcement;
      distinct statement; formal expression; avowal.

            Declarations of mercy and love . . . in the Gospel.
                                                  --Tillotson.

   3. The document or instrument containing such statement or
      proclamation; as, the Declaration of Independence (now
      preserved in Washington).

            In 1776 the Americans laid before Europe that noble
            Declaration, which ought to be hung up in the
            nursery of every king, and blazoned on the porch of
            every royal palace.                   --Buckle.

   4. (Law) That part of the process in which the plaintiff sets
      forth in order and at large his cause of complaint; the
      narration of the plaintiff's case containing the count, or
      counts. See {Count}, n., 3.

   {Declaration of Independence}. (Amer. Hist.) See under
      {Independence}.

   {Declaration of rights}. (Eng. Hist) See {Bill of rights},
      under {Bill}.

   {Declaration of trust} (Law), a paper subscribed by a grantee
      of property, acknowledging that he holds it in trust for
      the purposes and upon the terms set forth. --Abbott.

资料来源 : WordNet®

Declaration of Independence
     n : the document recording the proclamation of the second
         Continental Congress (4 July 1776) asserting the
         independence of the colonies from Great Britain