branch

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A secondary woody stem or limb growing from the trunk or main stem of a tree or shrub or from another secondary limb.
2. n. A lateral division or subdivision of certain other plant parts, such as a root or flower cluster.
3. n. Something that resembles a branch of a tree, as in form or function, as:
4. n. A secondary outgrowth or subdivision of a main axis, such as the tine of a deer's antlers.
5. n. Anatomy An offshoot or a division of the main portion of a structure, especially that of a nerve, blood vessel, or lymphatic vessel; a ramus.
6. n. A limited part of a larger or more complex unit or system, especially:
7. n. An area of specialized skill or knowledge, especially academic or vocational, that is related to but separate from other areas: the judicial branch of government; the branch of medicine called neurology.
8. n. A division of a business or other organization.
9. n. A division of a family, categorized by descent from a particular ancestor.
10. n. Linguistics A subdivision of a family of languages, such as the Germanic branch of Indo-European.
11. n. A tributary of a river.
12. n. Chiefly Southern U.S. See creek. See Regional Note at run.
13. n. A divergent section of a river, especially near the mouth.
14. n. Mathematics A part of a curve that is separated, as by discontinuities or extreme points.
15. n. Computer Science A sequence of program instructions to which the normal sequence of instructions relinquishes control, depending on the value of certain variables.
16. n. Computer Science The instructions executed as the result of such a passing of control.
17. v. To put forth a branch or branches; spread by dividing.
18. v. To come forth as a branch or subdivision; develop or diverge from: an unpaved road that branches from the main road; a theory that branches from an older system of ideas.
19. v. To enlarge the scope of one's interests, business, or activities: branch out from physics into related fields.
20. v. Computer Science To relinquish control to another set of instructions or another routine as a result of the presence of a branch.
21. v. To separate (something) into or as if into branches.
22. v. To embroider (something) with a design of foliage or flowers.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A division or subdivision of the stem or axis of a tree, shrub, or other plant (the ultimate or smaller ramifications being called branchlets, twigs, or shoots); a bough.
2. n. Something resembling a branch in its relation to the trunk; an offshoot or part extending from the main body of a thing; a ramification; a subdivision; an outgrowth.
3. n. Specifically— Any member or part of a body or system; a department; a section or subdivision: as, a branch of a society; the various branches of learning.
4. n. A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock: as, the English or the Irish branch of a family.
5. n. Any descendant in such a line.
6. n. In geometry, any portion of a real curve capable of description by the continuous motion of a point. Every branch either extends to infinity or returns into itself (reëntrant branch); but some old geometers considered a branch to be ended by a cusp.
7. n. A piece of pipe including a length of the main pipe and a shorter piece branching from it. When the latter is at right angles to the former, the branch is aT-branch; if at an acute angle, it is a y-branch. If there are two branching pieces, it is called a double branch.
8. n. The metal piece on the end of the hose of a fire-engine to which the nozle is screwed.
9. n. One of the sides of a horseshoe.
10. n. In fortification, the wing or long side of a horn- or crown-work; also, one of the parts of a zig-zag approach.
11. n. In a sword-hilt, either of two pieces which project at right angles to the barrel and to the blade of the sword, forming guards for the hand. See hilt.
12. n. In entomology, the flagellum or outer portion of a geniculate antenna.
13. n. In mining, a small vein, leader, or string of ore, connected with or seeming to branch from the main lode. See lode.
14. n. In a bridle, either of two bent pieces of iron which bear the bit, the cross-chains, and the curb.
15. n. In the southern and some of the western United States, the general name for any stream that is not a large river or a bayou.
16. n. The diploma or commission issued by the proper authority to a pilot who has passed an examination for competency.
17. n. A chandelier.
18. n. A branched candlestick or candle.
19. Consisting of or constituting a branch; ramifying; diverging from a trunk, main stem, or main body: as, a branch road or railroad; a branch society.
20. To spread in branches; send out branches, as a plant.
21. To divide into separate parts or subdivisions; diverge; ramify.
22. To divide, as into branches; make subordinate divisions in.
23. To adorn with needlework; decorate with embroidery; adorn with flowers or other ornament, as in textile fabrics.
24. n. In mathematics, some one determination of a many-valued function selected for consideration. Thus the values log. x, log. x + 2 π i, log. x + 4 π i, …, may be said to belong to different branches of the function log. x. In coal-mining, a road in long-wall working leading off a level, Heading, or other main road.

Wiktionary

1. n. The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing.
2. n. Something that divides like the branch of a tree.
3. n. A location of an organization with several locations.
4. n. Mormonism A local congregation of the LDS Church that is not large enough to form a ward; see Wikipedia article on ward in LDS church.
5. n. An area in business or of knowledge, research.
6. n. nautical A certificate given by Trinity House to a pilot qualified to take navigational control of a ship in British waters.
7. v. intransitive To arise from the trunk or a larger branch of a tree.
8. v. intransitive To produce branches.
9. v. intransitive, computing To jump to a different location in a program, especially as the result of a conditional statement.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A shoot or secondary stem growing from the main stem, or from a principal limb or bough of a tree or other plant.
2. n. Any division extending like a branch; any arm or part connected with the main body of thing; ramification.
3. n. Any member or part of a body or system; a distinct article; a section or subdivision; a department.
4. n. (Geom.) One of the portions of a curve that extends outwards to an indefinitely great distance.
5. n. A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line.
6. n. (Naut.) A warrant or commission given to a pilot, authorizing him to pilot vessels in certain waters.
7. adj. Diverging from, or tributary to, a main stock, line, way, theme, etc..
8. v. To shoot or spread in branches; to separate into branches; to ramify.
9. v. To divide into separate parts or subdivision.
10. v. To divide as into branches; to make subordinate division in.
11. v. To adorn with needlework representing branches, flowers, or twigs.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a natural consequence of development
2. n. a division of some larger or more complex organization
3. n. a stream or river connected to a larger one
4. n. any projection that is thought to resemble a human arm
5. n. a part of a forked or branching shape
6. v. grow and send out branches or branch-like structures
7. n. a division of a stem, or secondary stem arising from the main stem of a plant
8. v. divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork