Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Nation \Na"tion\, n. [F. nation, L. natio nation, race, orig., a
   being born, fr. natus, p. p. of nasci, to be born, for
   gnatus, gnasci, from the same root as E. kin. [root]44. See
   {Kin} kindred, and cf. {Cognate}, {Natal}, {Native}.]
   1. (Ethnol.) A part, or division, of the people of the earth,
      distinguished from the rest by common descent, language,
      or institutions; a race; a stock.

            All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.
                                                  --Rev. vii. 9.

   2. The body of inhabitants of a country, united under an
      independent government of their own.

            A nation is the unity of a people.    --Coleridge.

            Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a
            nation.                               --F. S. Key.

   3. Family; lineage. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

   4.
      (a) One of the divisions of university students in a
          classification according to nativity, formerly common
          in Europe.
      (b) (Scotch Universities) One of the four divisions (named
          from the parts of Scotland) in which students were
          classified according to their nativity.

   5. A great number; a great deal; -- by way of emphasis; as, a
      nation of herbs. --Sterne.

   {Five nations}. See under {Five}.

   {Law of nations}. See {International law}, under
      {International}, and {Law}.

   Syn: people; race. See {People}.

Source : WordNet®

nation
     n 1: a politically organized body of people under a single
          government; "the state has elected a new president";
          "African nations"; "students who had come to the
          nation's capitol"; "the country's largest manufacturer";
          "an industrialized land" [syn: {state}, {country}, {land},
           {commonwealth}, {res publica}, {body politic}]
     2: the people who live in a nation or country; "a statement
        that sums up the nation's mood"; "the news was announced
        to the nation"; "the whole country worshipped him" [syn: {land},
         {country}, {a people}]
     3: a federation of tribes (especially native American tribes);
        "the Shawnee nation"
     4: United States prohibitionist who raided saloons and
        destroyed bottles of liquor with a hatchet (1846-1911)
        [syn: {Carry Nation}, {Carry Amelia Moore Nation}]