▪ I. separate, pa. pple., a., and n.
(ˈsɛpərət)
Forms: 5–6 seperat, 5–7 separat, 6–8 seperate, 5– separate.
[ad. L. sēparāt-us, pa. pple. of sēparāre: see separate v.]
† A. as past pple. Separated. Obs.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 73 If hit were separate [L. si separaretur] in that maner from this worlde habitable. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 34 Preamble, The same..Hereditamentes shuld be..separat severed and disanexed from the Duchie of Cornwall. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 969 Whan all the officers departed were thens Supposynge the soule seperate from the body. 1555 Pendleton in Bonner's Homilies 33 b, Those, that haue seperate from the catholyke church. 1646 R. Baillie Anabaptism (1647) 51 After they have separate from all other Churches. 1671 Milton Samson 31 Why was my breeding order'd and prescrib'd As of a person separate to God. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. vii. 7 The Atoms or Particles which now constitute Heaven and Earth, being once separate and diffused in the Mundane Space,..could never [etc.]. |
B. adj.
1. a. Parted, divided, or withdrawn from others; disjoined, disconnected, detached, set or kept apart. Const. from.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 422 He sought them both, but wish'd his hap might find Eve separate. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth i. iv. 35 'Twere hard to conceive an eternal Watch, whose pieces were never separate one from another, nor ever in any other form. 1729 G. Adams tr. Sophocles, Oedip. Colon. II. 162 He died without Sepulchre, separate from any Man. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 80 Stamens and Pistils are said to be separate when they are found upon the same plant, but in different flowers. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xx, The moment in which I detect the least sign of treachery, thy head and body are three yards separate! 1846 Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 29 Phosphorus..is never met with in a separate state, but always in combination with some other element. 1849 Dickens Barn. Rudge ix, The footsteps appeared to have some object quite separate and disconnected from herself. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxxxv. 66 A friendship..Which masters Time indeed, and is Eternal, separate from fears. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times 41 Small separate plates of ice are formed. |
b. Of persons, a dwelling, etc.: Withdrawn from society or intercourse; shut off from access. separate confinement, the system of confining prisoners in separate cells.
| 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 166 This castle..being separate from concourse of people, and a solitarie place fitte for a man to studie in. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 24 The Women..are all lodged in a separate appartment together. 1697 Dryden æneid vi. 954 Now, in a secret vale, the Trojan sees A sep'rate grove. 1815 Scott Guy M. lviii, See, here's the plan of my Bungalow, with all convenience for being separate and sulky when I please. 1819 Shelley Cenci v. ii. 191 Conduct these culprits each to separate cells. 1849 Edin. Rev. July 11 The tendency of prolonged separate confinement is to affect the mind. 1863 Rep. Sel. Comm. Gaols 13 Prisons..upon the separate system. |
c. Of a soul: Not joined to a body, disembodied.
| 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. xiv. §1 (1712) 130 Separate Souls being ἰσάγγελοι, in a condition not unlike the Angels themselves. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. i. §15 Whatever Ideas the Mind can receive and contemplate without the help of the Body, it is reasonable to conclude, it can retain without the help of the Body too, or else the Soul, or any separate Spirit, will have but little advantage by thinking. |
d. Parted or withdrawn from the Church.
| 1680 Stillingfl. Mischief of Separation 32 Nothing doth more alienate mens affections than withdrawing from each other into separate Congregations. 1686 J. Scott Chr. Life ii. vii. Wks. 1718 I. 451 A Church that is separate from the Church Catholick. |
2. a. Withdrawn or divided from something else so as to have an independent existence by itself.
separate establishment: see establishment 10 b.
| a 1700 Evelyn Diary 18 July 1691, He..was..the sole industrious mover, that it should be made a separate parish. 1724 Waterland Farther Vind. Chr. Div. ii. 58 The prevailing Custom of Speech, which never gives the Name of Substances to any thing, but where the Substance is separate, or separable. 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. vii, He proceeded to enrol the troops into separate bodies. 1861 Two Cosmos v. iv. II. 156 He had ready for publication an Essay on the separate existence of Matter. 1887 F. B. Zincke Hist. Wherstead 188 If it is regarded disconnectedly and as a separate entity, it teaches little. |
b. Belonging or peculiar to one, not common to or shared with the other or the others. In a hotel or boarding-house: separate table. Also spec. of rooms, etc., to which each of a married couple retires separately.
separate maintenance: see maintenance 7 b.
| 1673 Temple To Dk. Ormond Wks. 1757 II. 235 This point can only be gained by a separate peace between us and Holland; for if the war should come to end in a general treaty [etc.]. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Separate, distinct, particular, different. 1711 Swift Cond. Allies (ed. 2) 86 Have not those two Realms their separate Maxims of Policy, which must operate in Times of Peace? 1756 Old Maid 21 Feb. 86, I have proposed separate beds, but he will never hear of it. 1771 Junius Lett. lix. 307 That each of them should act his separate part with honour and integrity to the public. 1815 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxiv, ‘Kind host’, he said, ‘our needs require A separate board and separate fire’. 1817 Jane Austen Let. 20 Feb. (1952) 480, I w{supd} recommend to her & Mr. D. the simple regimen of separate rooms. 1823 ― Quentin D. xxxvii, Each pressed forward upon his separate object. 1838 H. Martineau Retrospect I. 236 We..had..a separate table, at Mrs. Peyton's boarding-house. 1840–1 De Quincey Style iii. Wks. 1890 X. 203 One poem which..has a characteristic or separate beauty of its own. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law xiii. 84 A married woman, although having separate estate, and living apart from her husband. 1872 Morley Voltaire i. 3 Luther and Calvin in their separate ways brought into splendid prominence their new ideas of moral order. 1910 Bradshaw's Railway Guide 1008 (Advt.), White Lion... Coffee Room (separate tables), Billiard Room. 1971 J. Fleming Grim Death & Barrow Boys xi. 161 A Private Hotel on the sea-front where they had dinner at night and separate tables. 1977 C. Storr Tales from Psychiatrist's Couch 36 She sleeps in a twin bed in London, but in the cottage we have separate rooms. |
c. Considered or reckoned by itself (although mentioned as one of several); single, individual.
| 1840 Macaulay Ess., Clive ¶19 While the great body [of the empire], as a whole, was torpid and passive, every separate member began..to move with an energy all its own. 1851 Hawthorne Ho. Sev. Gables xvi, Just as there comes a warm sunbeam into every cottage window, so comes a love-beam of God's care and pity for every separate need. 1882 Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 716 The metamorphoses of material proceed pari passu with the growth of the separate parts. |
d. Distinct in occurrence or enumeration; not combined or put together.
| 1907 Hodges Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6) 161 Three separate baths of this strength. |
e. Phr. separate but equal, asserting the equality of races under racial segregation. U.S.
| [1776 T. Jefferson in Dunlop's Pennsylvania Packet 8 July 1/1 When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one People..to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them. 1890 Louisiana Acts CXI. 152 An Act..requiring all railway companies..to provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.] 1892 F. W. Gage Negro Problem in U.S. iii. 92 If railroad companies care to furnish separate but equal accommodations on equal terms to each race, no objection need be made. 1914 U.S. Reports (1915) CCXXXV. 160 It was not an infraction of the Fourteenth Amendment for a State to require separate, but equal, accommodations for the two races. 1948 Time 9 Feb. 75/1 In Missouri, where a ‘separate but equal’ law school has had its longest test. 1954 E. Warren in U.S. Reports CCCXLVII. 495 We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. |
f. separate school Canad., a school receiving pupils from a racial or religious minority.
For detailed evidence and comment see Dict. Canadianisms.
| 1852 Dundas Warden (Canada West) 28 May 2/7 The law makes provision for Separate Schools, to meet an exigency—namely, the anticipated intrusion of the religious dogmas of a majority upon a minority. 1857 H. F. Douglass in Ontario Hist. (1963) June 88 Separate schools and churches are nuisances that should be abated as soon as possible, they are dark and hateful relics of Yankee Negrophobia. 1872 Canadian Monthly July 64/1 The Roman Catholics spoke frankly and sincerely for their separate schools, the New Brunswickers for their local liberties. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 14 Apr. 5/2 Steps are being taken by the Roman Catholic authorities towards the establishment of separate schools in and near Vancouver. 1968 [see junior high (school) s.v. junior a. (n.) 5]. 1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 Jan. 29/8 That meant I was Roman Catholic,..that my oppressed and persecuted parents had to pay for my separate school education as well as the education of all the heathens in the public schools. |
g. separate development, the systematic development or regulation of a group or race by itself independently of other groups or races in a society; orig. and chiefly S. Afr., = apartheid.
| 1955 Summary Rep. Comm. Socio-Econ. Devel. Bantu Areas S. Afr. iii. xxv. 105/1 (heading) Objections to the policy of separate development. 1962 [see parallelism 2]. 1968 Economist 12 Oct. 17/1 A rigid, and openly acknowledged, form of ‘separate development’ operates there [sc. in Londonderry]. The most populous ward..is wholly Catholic..but skilful use of the ‘property qualification’ for local government elections [etc.]..ensure that these 12 councillors are Protestant Unionists. 1977 [see plural democracy s.v. plural a. (n.) 2]. 1979 E. Norman Christianity & World Order v. 61 The Dutch Reformed Church does not teach white racial superiority, nor is Separate Development an attempt to institutionalize racial discrimination. |
C. n. (absol. or ellipt. uses of the adj.)
1. One who withdraws from the Church; a separatist.
| 1612 W. Sclater Minister's Portion 2 What ods is there betwixt this beggerly conclusion of those old beggers, and that of late separats, that make it Christs ordinance for Ministers to liue of their peoples voluntary contribution. 1647 Owen Eshcol (1648) 52 He that will not separate from world, and false-worship is a Separate from Christ. 1659 Gauden Tears Ch. i. ii. 41 Chusing rather to be a rank Separate, a meer Quaker, an arrant Seeker. |
2. A member of an American Calvinistic Methodist sect of the 18th century, so called because organized into separate societies.
| 1882–3 Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. III. 2160. |
3. U.S. An article or document issued separately; esp. a copy of an article reprinted from a magazine, volume of ‘transactions’, etc., for separate distribution.
| 1886 Rep. of U.S. Sec. of Treasury 405 (Cent.) It will be noticed that to the questions 16, 17, and 18, in the separate of January 18, 1886, no reply is given by the superintendent of the mint. 1892 Athenæum 12 Nov. 666/3 From time to time we receive odd ‘separates’ of papers published in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 1894 Harvard Teachers' Assoc. Leaflet No. 11. 4 The geographical report..might be reprinted in the annual report of the superintendent of public instruction, from which ‘separates’ could be struck off. 1897 Nat. Science Dec. 432 This 4to tract..cannot be a separate of the Mém. de l'Inst. paper. |
4. Math. Any one of a set of partitions into which a partition of a number can be separated.
| 1888 MacMahon in Amer. Jrnl. Math. (1889) XI. 2 A partition is separated into separates by writing down a set of partitions, each separate partition in its own brackets, from left to right, so that when all the parts of these partitions are assembled in a single bracket, the partition which is separated is reproduced. |
5. A period of separate confinement (see B. 1 b).
| 1862 Cornh. Mag. Nov. 640 Professional thieves..form a net-work..by..which all criminal knowledge circulates. In prison and out of it, in the lowly village lodging-house and..‘doing their separates’ at Pentonville..they..spread criminal knowledge. 1904 A. Griffiths 50 Yrs. Publ. Service xv. 193 There were penal servitude convicts of both sexes doing ‘separates’, the first probationary period of nine months, a modified form of solitary confinement. |
6. Geol. Any of the fractions into which constituents of a soil or other material can be separated according to a property such as particle size or mineral composition. Cf. soil separate s.v. soil n.1 10.
| 1909 A. G. McCall Physical Properties of Soils 84 The separates to be determined are as follows: Fine gravel 2·0–1·0 mm, Coarse sand 1·0–0·5,..Clay 0·005. 1924 F. E. Bear Soil Managem. vii. 56 In the Illinois soil survey, silt is defined as a separate the particles in which may vary from 0·03 to 0·001 millimeter in diameter. 1952 L. M. Thompson Soils & Soil Fertility ii. 10 The sand separate which occurs in an amount greater than any other separate is used to indicate the name; for example, fine sandy loam indicates a predominance of fine sand. 1977 New Scientist 21 Apr. 120/1 Isotopic abundance anomalies in mineral separates from meteorites. |
7. pl. Articles of (esp. women's) dress which may be worn in various combinations and not only as parts of a matching outfit.
| 1945 Britannica Bk. of Year 276/2 These ‘separates’ were outfits of which the several parts could be inter⁓changed to form many combinations. 1948 Sun (Baltimore) 3 Apr. 3/7 (Advt.), Tropical separates... Of crisp tropical rayon suiting nicely tailored... You can either ‘mix 'em or match 'em’. 1958 TV Times 20 June 15/2 She finds ‘separates’ ideal for her type of performance. 1964 McCall's Sewing i. 13/1 Separates are the answer to the schoolgirl's needs. Skirts, sweaters, jackets and blouses that can mix and match are perfect. 1979 Sunday Star (Toronto) 30 Sept. d2/2 She's learned the knack of putting her own looks together with separates. She's off to school one day in gray dress pants, hot pink sweater and pale pink tam. |
8. A self-contained, free-standing component of a sound reproduction system. Usu. pl.
| 1974 Times 8 Apr. 12/1 Demand for all kinds of audio systems—‘separates’ and otherwise. 1977 Gramophone Apr. 1625/2 Akai showed, along with five new receivers, that it too was getting into a wide line of separates and speakers. |
▪ II. separate, v.
(ˈsɛpəreɪt)
Also 6–8 seperate, 7 separat; pa. tense 6 Sc. seperat, 8 separate.
[f. L. sēparāt-, ppl. stem of sēparāre, f. sē- (see se-) + parāre to make ready, prepare.]
I. Transitive senses.
1. a. To put apart, set asunder (two or more persons or things, or one from another); to disunite, disconnect, make a division between. Also with out.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 249 [They] supposede that God wolde separate theyme that he myȝhte subiecte theym diuidede the rather to hym. 1526 Tindale Rom. viii. 35 Who shall seperate vs from goddes love? a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 113 And surelie the distance betwixt London and Lysbon, should not stoppe any kinde of frendlie dewtie..if the greatest matter of all did not in certeyne pointes separate our myndes. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. v. 27 Life and these lips haue long bene seperated. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. v. viii. 18 The dragon wing of night ore-spreds the earth And stickler-like the Armies seperates. 1633 Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 143 Naturall Death doth but separate the body from the soule: But spirituall Death separates the soule from God. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 970 Rather then Death..Shall separate us, linkt in Love so deare. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 279 Separate the wires, and the effect ceases. 1839 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 91 Being thus separated from my attendants, I lost my way. 1876 J. Parker Paracl. i. x. 158 What separates nation from nation so completely as ignorance of each other's speech? 1962 H. E. Beecheno Introd. Bus. Stud. xi. 93 For the mass of smaller businesses these functions must be separated out. 1980 V. Cunningham Sp. Civil War Verse 64 The various elements of his poetry can't be separated out like this. |
b. refl.
| 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man 42 They..have separated them selves from the laye men, countinge them viler then dogges. 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer ii. (1577) G viij, Hee ought to worke the matter wisely in seperating himselfe from the multitude. a 1600 Hooker 1st Serm. Jude §11 (1614) 17 Men do separate themselues either by heresie, schisme, or apostasie. 1654 Bramhall Just Vind. ii. (1661) 9 If one part of the Universall Church do separate it self from another part,..not as it is a part of the Universal Church, but only so far as it is corrupted and degenerated. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 173 To the Anglican Church he had always been strongly attached, and had repeatedly, where her interests were concerned, separated himself with regret from his dearest friends. |
c. To put asunder in thought, to distinguish, treat as distinct. Also with off.
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 182 The good of the Soveraign and People, cannot be separated. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §315 When the elevation of the object becomes too small to be discerned, as separated from the luminous reflection. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, II. vi. 143 In modern history it seems to me always impossible to separate religion from politics. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. vi. (1875) 85 Man had not yet learned to satisfy their consciences by separating the person from the office. 1894 H. Drummond Ascent of Man 12 It is as great a mistake..for the theologian to separate off the ship from the passengers as for the naturalist to separate off the passengers from the ship. |
d. To discharge (a person) from the armed forces (U.S. Mil.); † to remove from employment.
| 1859 R. Thornton Jrnl. 25 June in E. C. Tabler Zambezi Papers of Richard Thornton (1963) I. 103 About 3 p.m. Dr. L. gave me an official letter separating me from the Expedition. 1888 Civil Service (U.S.) Comm. 4th Rep. 51 A statement of the number of persons who have been ‘separated’ from the classified service by removal, resignation, and death cannot be made. 1946 Britannica Bk. of Year 833/1 Separate, to discharge or release from active duty in the armed services. 1971 Reader's Digest (U.S. ed.) Oct. 13/1 This year one million veterans will be separated from the service. |
2. To remove from conjugal cohabitation, esp. by a judicial decree. (Cf. separation 3.)
| a 1540 Barnes Wks. (1573) 331/2 Commaundyng to forbydde priestes that had not yet maryed, for to marry. And those y{supt} had maried, to bee separated from their wyues. 1764 G. Williams in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) I. 325 The Duke and Duchess of Grafton are separated, though the articles are not yet agreed upon between them. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. xiii, My Lord Mohun was separated from his wife. |
3. To keep apart or divide by an intervening space or barrier. Of the intervening medium: To part by lying between, to occupy the space or interval between.
| 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 32 Whether..nature..had not so deuided and seperated the East from the West. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xii. 47 The goulph of Ponthus..separateth Asia from Europe. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 208 It standeth so neere the mountaine last mentioned, that they are onely separated with the foresaid riuer. 1663 Gerbier Counsel e 6, Stables and even Kitchens ought to be separated from the main body of a Palace. 1727 [E. Dorrington] Philip Quarll (1816) 39 Climbing up the rock.., he found at the bottom of it a narrow lake, which separated it from the land. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xliii, The younger race..had..broken down many of the barriers which separated for half a century the Norman victors from the vanquished Saxons. 1822 Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 259 This shell has six turns, very projecting, deeply separated. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 276 The ten centuries which separated the reign of Charlemagne from the reign of Napoleon. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. I. xiii. 303 The deep gulf which separates the two regions. |
4. a. To set apart or segregate for a special purpose. Const. for, to, unto. (Chiefly in Biblical language.)
| 1526 Tindale Acts xiii. 2 Seperat me Barnabas and Saul for the worke where vnto I have called them. 1611 Bible Rom. i. 1 Paul..separated vnto the Gospel of God. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 9 Who separated the Gentile and rejected the Iew? 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes i. 12 Whoever of the ancient Patriarchs first separated a Tenth. 1785 Paley Mor. Philos. v. vii. (1818) II. 92 Every trespass upon that reserve which public decency has established breaks down the fence by which the day is separated to the service of religion. 1798 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 11 You are now, Sir, vested with power to ordain and separate others to the work of the ministry. |
† b. To exclude, prohibit. Obs. rare—1.
| 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 51 Lastly, who shall forbid and separat all idle resort, all evill company? |
5. a. To remove or part (a substance) from another with which it is combined or mixed; esp. to do this by some technical process. Also with out.
| 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 147 The Tinne and Leade is mingled with Silver, but so, as it doth not largely quit the cost of the labour in seperating or trying it. 1683 Soame & Dryden Boileau's Art Poet. iv. 1090 From the fine gold I separate the allay. 1784 Cullen tr. Bergman's Phys. & Chem. Ess. I. 221 The selenite may be still better separated from the iron, by boiling the dried residuum [etc.]. 1850 M{supc}Cosh Div. Govt. ii. ii. (1874) 205 It is in the furnace that the dross is separated. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. (1874) 198 Plants..are able slowly to separate out and assimilate the potash from these rocks and soils. |
b. Of a gland: To secrete. Of a material substance: To give off or emit from itself. ? Obs.
| 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 33 There being Glandules on purpose to separate a humor for that purpose. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 206 Furnished with glands, which separate a substance that has the smell of musk. 1805 Saunders Min. Waters 286 Cheltenham water, when fresh drawn, appears tolerably clear... It becomes more turbid by standing, and separates air bubbles in a small quantity. |
6. To divide into (two or more) parts. rare.
| 1581 J. Hamilton Cath. Tr. 34 Moyses liftit vp his vand, and seperat the see. 1784 Cowper Task v. 196 As a shepherd separates his flock, These to the upland, to the valley those. |
† 7. absol. To make a division or severance. Obs.
| 1560 Bible (Geneva) Isa. lix. 2 Your iniquities haue separated betwene you and your God. a 1653 Binning Princ. Chr. Relig. Wks. (1735) 9 The Cloud of our Sins, that separates between God and us. |
II. intr. (Cf. the reflexive use 1 b.)
8. a. Of a person: To quit the company or society of another or others; to go away, secede or withdraw from (esp. a church).
| 1684 Baxter Answ. Theol. Dial. 19, I must not separate from every Kingdom, Church, or Family that is ill governed. 1711 Countryman's Let. to Curate 20 William Whittinghame one of those that Compiled the Francfort Liturgie, and separate with the rest to Geneva upon the Contest about the English Liturgie. 1815 Scott Guy M. xv, No, Miss Lucy Bertram, while I live I will not separate from you. |
| Indirect passive. 1595 F. Johnson (title) A Treatise of the Ministry of the Church of England. Wherein is handled this question, Whether it be to be separated from or joyned unto. |
b. Of two or more persons: To quit each other's society or company; (of a company) to break up.
| 1690 Locke Govt. ii. v. §39 When there was not room enough..for their Herds to feed together, they, by consent,..separated, and inlarged their pasture. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho iv, They separated at an early hour. 1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. xix, The conversation held between the latter and Mr. Sawyer..before separating for the night. 1885 Pater Marius (1910) II. xx. 86 It was time for the company to separate. |
c. To withdraw from conjugal cohabitation.
| 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 332 The differences that happen between man and wife..and the Reasons that move 'em to separate. 1794 Ann. Reg., Chron. *11 The parties had separated the 24th of July, 1793, and no evidence had been produced to affect his client, but cohabitation since the separation. 1819 Ibid. (1820) 252 Is the prisoner your husband?.. Yes. I believe you separated from him for some time?—Yes. |
9. a. Of a thing: To part (from something else); to be disunited or disjoined, to become detached; to draw apart or asunder.
| 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 219 The bridge..has a plain and easie passage over 30 long boats, concatenated and made to separate at pleasure. 1739 S. Sharp Oper. Surg. Introd. 43 The Bullet makes an Eschar, which usually separates in a few days. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 390 Swammerdam..was of opinion that the bones themselves separated from each other, and closed again. 1801 Med. & Phys. Jrnl. V. 222 The gangrene was separating. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 549 The mortified parts separated, without assistance, from the sound parts. 1832 John Bull 13 Feb. 56/1 The roof of the nave has separated in one place from the wall. |
b. Of a mineral or chemical substance: To be parted or disengaged from a mass or compound; to be drawn out from a solution in the form of crystals or as a precipitate.
| 1863 Fownes' Chem. (ed. 9) 486 The salt separates in minute needles. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. (1874) 211 On cooling, potassium nitrate separates out in crystals. |