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Divide (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Divided; p. pr. & vb. n. Dividing.] [L. dividere, divisum; di- = dis- + root signifying to part; cf. Skr. vyadh to pierce; perh. akin to L. vidua widow, and E. widow. Cf. Device, Devise.]
1. To part asunder (a whole); to sever into two or more parts or pieces; to sunder; to separate into parts.
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Divide the living child in two. 1 Kings iii. 25.
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2. To cause to be separate; to keep apart by a partition, or by an imaginary line or limit; as, “a wall divides two houses; a stream divides the towns.”
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Let it divide the waters from the waters. Gen. i. 6.
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3. To make partition of among a number; to apportion, as profits of stock among proprietors; to give in shares; to distribute; to mete out; to share.
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True justice unto people to divide. Spenser.
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Ye shall divide the land by lot. Num. xxxiii. 54.
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4. To disunite in opinion or interest; to make discordant or hostile; to set at variance.
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If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom can not stand. Mark iii. 24.
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Every family became now divided within itself. Prescott.
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5. To separate into two parts, in order to ascertain the votes for and against a measure; as, “to divide a legislative house upon a question”.
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6. (Math.) To subject to arithmetical division.
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7. (Logic) To separate into species; -- said of a genus or generic term.
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8. (Mech.) To mark divisions on; to graduate; as, “to divide a sextant”.
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9. (Music) To play or sing in a florid style, or with variations. [Obs.] Spenser.
Syn. -- To sever; dissever; sunder; cleave; disjoin; disunite; detach; disconnect; part; distribute; share.
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Divide, v. i.
1. To be separated; to part; to open; to go asunder. Milton.
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The Indo-Germanic family divides into three groups. J. Peile.
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2. To cause separation; to disunite.
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A gulf, a strait, the sea intervening between islands, divide less than the matted forest. Bancroft.
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3. To break friendship; to fall out. Shak.
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4. To have a share; to partake. Shak.
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5. To vote, as in the British Parliament, by the members separating themselves into two parties (as on opposite sides of the hall or in opposite lobbies), that is, the ayes dividing from the noes.
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The emperors sat, voted, and divided with their equals. Gibbon.
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Divide, n. A dividing ridge of land between the tributaries of two streams; also called watershed and water parting. A divide on either side of which the waters drain into two different oceans is called a continental divide.
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Watershed (?), n. [Cf. G. wasserscheide; wasser water + scheide a place where two things separate, fr. scheiden to separate.]
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1. The whole region or extent of country which contributes to the supply of a river or lake.
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2. The line of division between two adjacent rivers or lakes with respect to the flow of water by natural channels into them; the natural boundary of a basin; -- called also divide and water parting.
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3. a point in time marking an important transition between two situations, or phases of an activity; a turning point.
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