Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - sequence

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin sequentia, from Late Latin, sequel, literally, act of following, from Latin sequent-, sequens, present participle of sequi  Date: 14th century  1. a hymn in irregular meter between the gradual and Gospel in masses for special occasions (as Easter)  2. a continuous or connected series: as  a. an extended series of poems united by a single theme a sonnet ~  b. three or more playing cards usually of the same suit in consecutive order of rank  c. a succession of repetitions of a melodic phrase or harmonic pattern each in a new position  d. a set of elements ordered so that they can be labeled with the positive integers  e. the exact order of bases in a nucleic acid or of amino acids in a protein  f.  (1) a succession of related shots or scenes developing a single subject or phase of a film story  (2) episode  3.  a. order of succession  b. an arrangement of the tenses of successive verbs in a sentence designed to express a coherent relationship especially between main and subordinate parts  4.  a. con~, result  b. a subsequent development  5. continuity of progression the narrative ~  II. transitive verb  (~d; sequencing)  Date: 1941  1. to arrange in a ~  2. to determine the ~ of chemical constituents (as amino-acid residues or nucleic-acid bases) in