Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) Proof; evidence.

2. (n.) A reason or reasons offered in proof, to induce belief, or convince the mind; reasoning expressed in words; as, an argument about, concerning, or regarding a proposition, for or in favor of it, or against it.

3. (n.) A process of reasoning, or a controversy made up of rational proofs; argumentation; discussion; disputation.

4. (n.) The subject matter of a discourse, writing, or artistic representation; theme or topic; also, an abstract or summary, as of the contents of a book, chapter, poem.

5. (n.) Matter for question; business in hand.

6. (n.) The quantity on which another quantity in a table depends; as, the altitude is the argument of the refraction.

7. (n.) The independent variable upon whose value that of a function depends.

8. (v. i.) To make an argument; to argue.