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.
