Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MAP, n. [Sp. mapa; Port. mappa; It. mappamonda; Qu. L. mappa, a cloth or towel, a Punic word; Rabbinic מפא. Maps may have been originally drawn on cloth.]

A representation of the surface of the earth or of any part of it, drawn on paper or other material, exhibiting the lines of latitude and longitude, and the positions of countries, kingdoms, states, mountains, rivers, &c. A map of the earth, or of a large portion of it, comprehends a representation of land and water; but a representation of a continent or any portion of land only, is properly a map, and a representation of the ocean only or any portion of it, is called a chart. We say, a map of England, of France, of Europe; but a chart of the Atlantic, of the Pacific, &c.