Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Improvement

Improvement , noun

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 application 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.
Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on land or premises; as, to convey the land together with all improvements.
6.
(Patent Laws) A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition. — Kent