Di*vi"sion (?), n. [F. division, L. divisio, from
dividere. See Divide.]
1. The act or process of diving anything into parts, or the state of
being so divided; separation.
I was overlooked in the division of the spoil.
Gibbon. 2. That which divides or keeps apart; a partition.
3. The portion separated by the divining of a mass or body; a distinct segment or section.
Communities and divisions of men.
Addison. 4. Disunion; difference in opinion or
feeling; discord; variance; alienation.
There was a
division among the people.
John vii. 43. 5. Difference of condition; state of distinction; distinction; contrast. Chaucer.
I will put a division between my people and
thy people.
Ex. viii. 23. 6. Separation of the members of a
deliberative body, esp.
of the Houses of Parliament, to ascertain the vote.
The motion
passed without a division.
Macaulay.
7. (Math.) The process of finding how many times one number or
quantity is contained in another; the reverse of multiplication;
also, the rule by which
the operation is performed.
8. (Logic) The separation of a genus into
its constituent species.
9.
(Mil.) (a) Two or more
brigades under the command of a
general officer.
(b) Two
companies of infantry
maneuvering as one subdivision of a battalion. (c) One of the larger districts into which a
country is divided for administering military affairs.
10.
(Naut.) One of the groups into which a fleet
is divided.
11. (Mus.) A course of
notes so running into each other as to form one series or chain, to be sung in one breath to one
syllable.
12.
(Rhet.) The distribution of a discourse into parts; a part so distinguished.
13.
(Biol.) A grade or rank in classification; a portion of a
tribe or of
a class; or,
in some recent authorities, equivalent to a subkingdom.
Cell division
(Biol.), a method of cell increase, in which new cells are formed by
the division of the parent
cell. In this process, the cell nucleus undergoes peculiar
differentiations and changes, as
shown in the figure (see also Karyokinesis). At the same time
the protoplasm of the cell
becomes gradually constricted by a furrow transverse to the long axis
of the nuclear spindle, followed, on the completion of the division of the nucleus, by a separation of the cell contents into two masses, called the daughter cells. -- Long division (Math.), the process of division when the operations are mostly written down. -- Short division (Math.),
the process of division when the operations are mentally performed and only the
results written down; --
used principally when the divisor is not greater than ten or twelve.
Syn.
-- compartment; section; share; allotment; distribution; separation; partition;
disjunction; disconnection; difference; variance; discord; disunion.
Hear it pronounced