What does "area" mean?

Additional senses

1. 2.The sunken space or court, giving ingress and affording light to the basement of a building.
2. 3.An extent of surface; a tract of the earth's surface; a region; as, vast uncultivated areas.
3. 4.(Geom.) The superficial contents of any figure; the surface included within any given lines; superficial extent; as, the area of a square or a triangle.
4. 5.(Biol.) A spot or small marked space; as, the germinative area.
5. 6.Extent; scope; range; as, a wide area of thought. The largest area of human history and man's common nature. F. Harrison. Dry area. See under Dry.