Etymology Shortening or back-formation of Middle English mappemounde, mapemounde (“world map”), from Old French mapamonde, from Medieval Latin mappa mundī, compound of Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”) and mundus (“world”). See mop for more on the first component. Doublet of mop, nape, and nappe.
A visual representation of an area, whether real or imaginary, showing the relative positions of places and other features.
a map of Australia, a map of Lilliput
He bought a map for the tour of Edinburgh Castle.
2 more examples
Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.2012 March–April, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 106:
Anna, it is a map.2016, “Learning English (public domain)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), via VOA, archived from the original on 25 Sep 2017:
2
A graphical or logical representation of any structure or system, showing the positions of or relationships between its components.
a map of the Earth's magnetic field
The 256 bytes of internal RAM are subdivided as shown in the memory map above.2005, Craig Steiner, The 8051/8052 Microcontroller, page 9:
1 more example
Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2017, page 171:
3
Mathematics, Sciences A function, especially a function satisfying a certain property (e.g. continuity, linearity, etc.; see Usage notes).
Let f be a map from ℝ to ℝ
4
Biology, Entomology, Natural sciences Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genera Araschnia (especially, Araschnia levana) and Cyrestis, having map-like markings on the wings.
And as the eye rested on him, he too filled me with pity and terror, for his map was flushed and his manner distraught. He looked like Jack Dempsey at the conclusion of his first conference with Gene Tunney, the occasion, if you remember, when he forgot to duck.1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X:
6
Video games An imaginary or fictional area, often predefined and confined, where a game or a session thereof takes place.
I don't want to play this map again!
Jack loves playing on this Fortnite map.
2 more examples
On top of that, each of Evolve's maps are dim, open arenas with little to interact with besides the occasional hostile organism.2015 February 14, Steven Strom, “Evolve Review: Middle of the food chain”, in Ars Technica:
Maps are littered with little challenges in my pursuit of explorable shortcuts, treasure chests of gear, and statues that grant me more health.2025 February 23, Lauren Morton, “Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 54; published online 28 October 2024:
Etymology Shortening or back-formation of Middle English mappemounde, mapemounde (“world map”), from Old French mapamonde, from Medieval Latin mappa mundī, compound of Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”) and mundus (“world”). See mop for more on the first component. Doublet of mop, nape, and nappe.
1
To represent by means of a map.
This large atlas maps the whole world in very great detail.
Figure 3 maps the pressure distribution within the human circulatory system.
2
To create a map of; to examine or survey in order to gather information for a map.
The team is mapping the route of the new railway line.
The space probe is mapping the Earth's gravitational field.
2 more examples
To provide the surveys required for modernisation schemes on British Railways, extensive sections of line in the Home Counties are to be mapped from the air. […] The track will be photographed from 1,500 ft. to provide maps of a scale of about 104 ft. to 1 in.1956 August, “Mapping Railways from the Air”, in Railway Magazine, page 499:
This equipment is designed to map the neurons of the human brain in three dimensions.
3
Followed by a "to" phrase To have a direct relationship; to correspond.
This doesn't map to my understanding of how things should work.
Significantly, the aural-oral data does not map closely to the visual linguistic landscape at NIE.2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 8:
4
Followed by a "to" phrase To create a direct relationship to; to create a correspondence with.
Map "volume down" to the F2 key.
5
Mathematics, SciencesFollowed by a "to" phrase To act as a function on something, taking it to something else.
f maps A to B, mapping every a∈A to f(a)∈B.
Equivalently: f:A→B,a↦f(a)
6
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To assign a drive letter to a shared folder.