Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SYS'TEM, n. [Fr. système; L. systema; Gr. ουστημα; συν and ιστημι, to set.]

1. An assemblage of things adjusted into a regular whole; or a whole plan or scheme consisting of many parts connected in such a manner as to create a chain of mutual dependencies; or a regular union of principles or parts forming one entire thing. Thus we say, a systematic logic, a system of philosophy, a system of government, a system of principles, the solar system, the Copernican system, a system of divinity, a system of law, a system of morality, a system of husbandry, a system of botany or of chimistry.
2. Regular method or order.
3. In music, an interval compounded or supposed to be compounded of several lesser intervals, as the fifth, octave, &c. the elements of which are called diastems. – Busby.