Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Alignment

Alignment ({not transcribed}) , noun

[French alignement.]

1.
The act of adjusting to a line; arrangement in a line or lines; the state of being so adjusted; a formation in a straight line; also, the line of adjustment; esp., an imaginary line to regulate the formation of troops or of a squadron.
2.
(Engineering) The ground-plan of a railway or other road, in distinction from the grades or profile.