Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - multiplication

 noun  Etymology: Middle English multiplicacioun, from Anglo-French multiplicacion, from Latin ~-, multiplicatio, from multiplicare to multiply  Date: 14th century  1. the act or process of multiplying ; the state of being multiplied  2.  a. a mathematical operation that at its simplest is an abbreviated process of adding an integer to itself a specified number of times and that is extended to other numbers in accordance with laws that are valid for integers  b. any of various mathematical operations that are analogous in some way to ~ of the real numbers but are defined for other or larger sets of elements (as complex numbers, vectors, matrices, or functions)