distribute

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To divide and dispense in portions.
2. v. To supply (goods) to retailers.
3. v. To deliver or pass out: distributing handbills on the street.
4. v. To spread or diffuse over an area; scatter: distribute grass seed over the lawn.
5. v. To apportion so as to be evenly spread throughout a given area: 180 pounds of muscle that were well distributed over his 6-foot frame.
6. v. To separate into categories; classify.
7. v. Logic To use (a term) so as to include all individuals or entities of a given class.
8. v. Mathematics To be distributive.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To divide or parcel out; allot in shares; bestow in parts or shares, or in due proportion; apportion; divide among several: as, Moses distributed lands to the tribes of Israel; Christ distributed the loaves to his disciples; to distribute justice.
2. To separate and put in place or order; arrange by classification or location: as, to distribute printing-types into their respective boxes (see II., 2); to distribute animals into classes, orders, genera, and species; to distribute the books in a library according to their subjects.
3. To spread; scatter; disperse.
4. To spread out; cover a surface or fill a space with: as, to distribute ink (that is, spread it evenly and smoothly) on printing-rollers; to distribute manure over a field; to distribute heat in a building.
5. In logic, to employ in its full extent, as a term
6. Synonyms Apportion, Allot, Assign (see dispense); partition, portion out.
7. To classify, arrange, sort, assort, dispose.
8. To make distribution; exercise charity.
9. In printing, to put dead matter (that, is, composed types that are no longer needed for printing) into the cases, by holding a quantity of it upright in the left hand on a support, and throwing the sepa rate types from a number taken between the thumb and first and second fingers of the right hand into their proper boxes; to “throw in”: as, he distributes rapidly.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To divide into portions and dispense.
2. v. transitive To supply to retail outlets.
3. v. transitive To deliver or pass out.
4. v. transitive To scatter or spread.
5. v. transitive To apportion (more or less evenly).
6. v. transitive To classify or separate into categories.
7. v. intransitive, mathematics To be distributive.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To divide among several or many; to deal out; to apportion; to allot.
2. v. To dispense; to administer.
3. v. To divide or separate, as into classes, orders, kinds, or species; to classify; to assort, as specimens, letters, etc.
4. v. To separate (type which has been used) and return it to the proper boxes in the cases.
5. v. To spread (ink) evenly, as upon a roller or a table.
6. v. (Logic) To employ (a term) in its whole extent; to take as universal in one premise.
7. v. To make distribution.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. administer or bestow, as in small portions
2. v. distribute or disperse widely
3. v. spread throughout a given area
4. v. make available
5. v. cause to become widely known
6. v. be distributed or spread, as in statistical analyses
7. v. cause be distributed
8. v. be mathematically distributive
9. v. to arrange in a systematic order
10. v. give to several people