\Im*prove"ment\, n.
1. The act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in
   desirable qualities; progress toward what is better;
   melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land,
   roads, etc.
         I look upon your city as the best place of
         improvement.                          --South.
         Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all
         our faculties.                        --Blair.
2. The act of making profitable use or applicaton of
   anything, or the state of being profitably employed; a
   turning to good account; practical application, as of a
   doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse. ``A
   good improvement of his reason.'' --S. Clarke.
         I shall make some improvement of this doctrine.
                                               --Tillotson.
3. The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also,
   that which is improved; as, the new edition is an
   improvement on the old.
         The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others,
         are improvements on the Greek poet.   --Addison.
4. Increase; growth; progress; advance.
         There is a design of publishing the history of
         architecture, with its several improvements and
         decays.                               --Addison.
         Those vices which more particularly receive
         improvement by prosperity.            --South.
5. pl. Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings,
   clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
6. (Patent Laws) A useful addition to, or modification of, a
   machine, manufacture, or composition. --Kent.