\Ne*go`ti*a"tion\, n. [L. negotiatio: cf. F.
n['e]gociation.]
1. The act or process of negotiating; a treating with another
   respecting sale or purchase. etc.
2. Hence, mercantile business; trading. [Obs.]
         Who had lost, with these prizes, forty thousand
         pounds, after twenty years' negotiation in the East
         Indies.                               --Evelyn.
3. The transaction of business between nations; the mutual
   intercourse of governments by diplomatic agents, in making
   treaties, composing difference, etc.; as, the negotiations
   at Ghent.
         An important negotiation with foreign powers.
                                               --Macaulay.