The surface features of an area of land; topography, A part of the earth's surface limited in extent; a region, district, or tract of land, either looked at in a general way or considered with reference to its fitness or use for some special purpose, as for a building-place or a battle-field_ a term little used in English except in translating from the French, and then with the same meaning which it has in the original, a piece of ground having specific characteristics or military potential