Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index 1. A reference to colonization, or the resulting communities. 2. A legal term. When people sue each other in civil courts, usually seeking money as reparations for the alleged wrongdoing of the defendants, the plaintiff and defendant(s) identified in the lawsuit can agree to resolve the dispute between themselves without a trial. The resolution of the lawsuit sets forth the obligations of the parties, and is often ordered by the court. The final resolution is referred to as a "settlement". 3. The process of swapping the consideration for the shares, securities or financial instrument once the deal or bargain has been agreed. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.