divide

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To separate into parts, sections, groups, or branches: divided the students into four groups. See Synonyms at separate.
2. v. To sector into units of measurement; graduate: The ruler was divided into metric units.
3. v. To separate and group according to kind; classify: divided the plants by genus.
4. v. To cause to separate into opposing factions; disunite: "They want not to divide either the Revolution or the Church but to be an integral part of both” ( Conor Cruise O'Brien).
5. v. To cause (members of a parliament) to vote by separating into groups, as pro and con.
6. v. To separate from something else; cut off: A mountain chain divides France and Spain.
7. v. To apportion among a number: Volunteers divided the different jobs among themselves. See Synonyms at distribute.
8. v. Mathematics To subject (a number) to the process of division: divided 20 by 4.
9. v. Mathematics To be a divisor of: 3 divides 9.
10. v. Mathematics To use (a number) as a divisor: divided 5 into 35.
11. v. To become separated into parts.
12. v. To branch out, as a river.
13. v. To form into factions; take sides: The party divided evenly on the tax issue.
14. v. To vote by dividing.
15. v. Mathematics To perform the operation of division.
16. v. Biology To undergo cell division.
17. n. A dividing point or line: "would clearly tip the court . . . across a dangerous constitutional divide” ( Lawrence H. Tribe).
18. n. A ridge of land; a watershed.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To separate into parts or pieces; sunder, as a whole into parts; cleave: as, to divide an apple.
2. To separate; disjoin; dispart; sever the union or connection of, as things joined in any way, or made up of separate parts: as, to divide soul and body; to divide an army.
3. In mathematics: To perform the operation of division on. In common arithmetic, to divide is to separate into a given number of equal parts: thus, if we divide 22 by 7, the quotient will be 3 and the remainder 1. See division, 2.
4. To be a divisor of, without leaving a remainder: as, “7 divides 21.”
5. To cause to be separate; part by any means of disjunction, real or imaginary; make or keep distinct: as, the equator divides the earth into two hemispheres.
6. To make partition of; distribute; share: as, to divide profits among shareholders, between partners, or with workmen.
7. To mark off into parts; make divisions on; graduate: as, to divide a sextant, a rule, etc.
8. To disunite or cause to disagree in opinion or interest; make discordant.
9. To embarrass by indecision; cause to hesitate or fluctuate between different motives or opinions.
10. In music, to perform, as a melody, especially with variations or divisions.
11. In logic: To separate (in thought or speech) into parts any of the kinds of whole recognized by logic: as, to divide a conception into its elements (species into genus and difference), an essential whole into matter and form, or an integral whole into its integrate parts.
12. Especially, to separate (a genus) into its species.
13. To expound; explain.
14. Synonyms To sever, sunder, bar apart, divorce.
15. To allot, apportion, deal out, parcel out.
16. To become separated into parts; come or go apart; be disunited.
17. To vote by division. See division, 1 .
18. To come to an issue; agree as to what are the precise points in dispute, or some of them.
19. n. In physical geography, a water-shed; the height of land which separates one drainage-basin or area of catchment from another; often, but not always, a ridge or conspicuous elevation.
20. n. The act of dividing; a division or partition, as of winnings or gains of any kind: as, a fair divide.
21. In billiards, to divide balls (mentally) into sixteenths, eighths, quarters, halves, and three quarters of their diameters, in order to insure certain deviations. Strokes are divided into quarter-follows, half-draws, half-spread, and so on.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To split or separate (something) into two or more parts.
2. v. transitive To share (something) by dividing it.
3. v. transitive, arithmetic To calculate the number (the quotient) by which you must multiply one given number (the divisor) to produce a second given number (the dividend).
4. v. transitive, arithmetic To be a divisor of.
5. v. intransitive To separate into two or more parts.
6. v. intransitive (biology) Of a cell, to reproduce by dividing.
7. n. A thing that divides.
8. n. An act of dividing.
9. n. A distancing between two people or things.
10. n. geography A large chasm, gorge, or ravine between two areas of land.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To part asunder (a whole); to sever into two or more parts or pieces; to sunder; to separate into parts.
2. v. To cause to be separate; to keep apart by a partition, or by an imaginary line or limit
3. v. 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.
4. v. To disunite in opinion or interest; to make discordant or hostile; to set at variance.
5. v. To separate into two parts, in order to ascertain the votes for and against a measure.
6. v. (Math.) To subject to arithmetical division.
7. v. (Logic) To separate into species; -- said of a genus or generic term.
8. v. (Mech.) To mark divisions on; to graduate.
9. v. (Music), obsolete To play or sing in a florid style, or with variations.
10. v. To be separated; to part; to open; to go asunder.
11. v. To cause separation; to disunite.
12. v. To break friendship; to fall out.
13. v. To have a share; to partake.
14. v. 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.
15. 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.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make a division or separation
2. v. act as a barrier between; stand between
3. v. come apart
4. n. a ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems
5. v. separate into parts or portions
6. v. force, take, or pull apart
7. v. perform a division
8. n. a serious disagreement between two groups of people (typically producing tension or hostility)