to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command.

to hold in check; curb

to control a horse; to control one's emotions.

to test or verify (a scientific experiment) by a parallel experiment or other standard of comparison.

to eliminate or prevent the flourishing or spread of

to control a forest fire.

Obsolete . to check or regulate (transactions), originally by means of a duplicate register.

the act or power of controlling; regulation; domination or command

Who's in control here?

the situation of being under the regulation, domination, or command of another

The car is out of control.

check or restraint

Her anger is under control.

a legal or official means of regulation or restraint

to institute wage and price controls.

a standard of comparison in scientific experimentation.

a person who acts as a check; controller.

a device for regulating and guiding a machine, as a motor or airplane.

controls, a coordinated arrangement of such devices.

prevention of the flourishing or spread of something undesirable

rodent control.

Baseball . the ability of a pitcher to throw the ball into the strike zone consistently

The rookie pitcher has great power but no control.

Philately . any device printed on a postage or revenue stamp to authenticate it as a government issue or to identify it for bookkeeping purposes.

a spiritual agency believed to assist a medium at a séance.

the supervisor to whom an espionage agent reports when in the field.

adjective

inhibited , noncommittal , restrained , self-controlled , self-restrained