division
(dɪˈvɪʒən)
Forms: 4–6 devi-, divisioun, etc. (with usual interchange of i and y, -on and -oun), 4 deveseoun, devyseoun, 5 Sc. dywysiown, 5–7 divisione, 4– division.
[ME. de-, divisioun, a. OF. devisiun, division, ad. L. dīvīsiōn-em, n. of action f. dīvidĕre to divide.]
I. As an action or condition.
1. a. The action of dividing or state of being divided into parts or branches; partition, severance.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. xi. 77 (Camb. MS.) But fyr [fleeth] and refuseth alle deuysyon. Ibid. iii. pr. ix. [see divide v. 1]. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 26 Þese arteries ben deuydid many weies; whos dyuysiouns man mai nouȝt conseyue bi his witt. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 111 By.. the devision of th' Earth into zones. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 229 How haue you made diuision of your selfe? 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 136 Babylon..there first hapned the division of Languages from one..to seventie two. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 237 The Division of Time into Hours, Days, and Weeks. 1840 Lardner Geom. ix. 109 Let the line..be divided into three parts, at C and D..and, from the points of division C and D let perpendiculars be drawn. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 2 The division into books..is probably later than the age of Plato. |
b. Separation, partition, parting.
| 1535 Coverdale 2 Esdras vi. 41 To make a deuysion betwixte the waters, that the one parte might remayne aboue, and the other beneth. 1634 Massinger Very Woman ii. i. Plays (1868) 499/1 We may meet again, But death's division is for ever, friend. 1864 Tennyson Higher Pantheism 6 This weight of body and limb, Are they not sign and symbol of thy division from Him? |
c. Camb. Univ. The partition of the term into two halves; the point of time at which the term is thus divided.
| 1803 Gradus ad Cantab. s.v. Term-Trotters, Young men who contrive to be in College the night before the division of the term, and out of it the morning after the close. 1852 Bristed Eng. University 63 After ‘division’ in the Michaelmas and Lent Terms, a student, who can assign a good plea for absence to the College authorities, may go down. 1896 W. Aldis Wright in Letter, The division of term still marks a period for certain purposes. |
† d. ‘Methodical arrangement, disposition’ (Schmidt). Obs.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. i. 23 A Fellow..That neuer set a Squadron in the Field, Nor the deuision of a Battaile knowes More then a Spinster. |
e. Hort. The propagation of perennial plants by splitting clumps into parts capable of rooting themselves.
| 1805 T. A. Knight Rep. Committee Hort. Soc. Lond. 5 Almost every plant, the existence of which is not confined to a single summer, admits of two modes of propagation; by Division of its Parts, and by Seed. 1841 J. Loudon Ladies' Compan. Flower Garden 86/1 Plants are said to be propagated by division when they are taken up and separated into portions. 1915 T. W. Sanders Pop. Hardy Perennials i. 24 By division, the simplest of all methods, we can easily obtain strong plants of any perennial. 1971 E. Coxhead One Woman's Garden vii. 54, I started with one plant and by division now have three. |
f. Biol. The spontaneous separation or breaking up of a cell into two or more approximately equal parts that constitute daughter-cells, usu. involving division of the nucleus (if any) followed by the breaking up of the cell as a whole; freq. as cell division. As a mode of reproduction of simple organisms usu. termed fission or schizogony.
| 1880 Encycl. Brit. XII. 13/1 Four types of Cytogenesis may be distinguished: (1) Rejuvenescence; (2) Conjugation; (3) Free-cell formation; and (4) Division. 1896 E. B. Wilson Cell ii. 45 In the multicellular organism all the tissue-cells have arisen by continued division from the original germ-cell, and this in its turn arose by the division of a cell pre-existing in the parent-body. 1901 T. H. Morgan Regeneration 149 The breaking up of lumbriculus or of a planarian into pieces that form new individuals is a typical example of division. 1920 L. Doncaster Introd. Study Cytol. xv. 247 The differentiation of the germ-layers is not conditioned by differential nuclear division, but by unequal division of the cytoplasm. 1940 Parker & Haswell Text-bk. Zool. (ed. 6) I. ii. 89 Multiplication [of Paramecium] takes place by binary fission (D), the division of the body being preceded by that of both nuclei. 1964 G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. i. 13 A remarkable bubbling of the cytoplasm occurs, and this becomes furiously active in the later stages of cell division. After division the movement dies away and the daughter cells spread out, [etc.]. 1970 Ambrose & Easty Cell Biol. i. 20 Cell division is the way in which reproduction occurs in most simple unicellular organisms. |
2. The action of distributing among a number; distribution, partition, sharing.
division of labour, in Pol. Econ., the division of a process of manufacture or an employment into parts, each of which is performed by a particular person.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 341 God wolde suffre no lenger þe fend to regne oonli in oo siche preest, but, of synne þat þei hadden do, made devisioun amongis two. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop i. vi, It is not good to have partage and dyuysyon with hym which is ryche & myghty. 1555 Eden Decades Contents (Arb.) 45 The debate and strife betwene the Spanyardes and Portugales for the diuision of the Indies. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 380 Ile make diuision of my present with you: Hold, there's halfe my Coffer. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. i. heading, Of the Division of Labour. The greatest improvement in the productive power of labour, and [etc.]..seem to have been the effect of the division of labour. 1878 Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 33 Even in a single family there is division of labour: the husband ploughs, or cuts timber; the wife cooks, manages the house, and spins or weaves; the sons hunt or tend sheep; the daughters employ themselves as milkmaids. |
† 3. The action of distinguishing, or of perceiving or making a difference; distinction. Obs.
| c 1398 Chaucer Fortune 33, I haue the tawht deuisyoun by-twene Frend of effect and frende of cowntenaunce. c 1500 Lancelot 1648 That Iustice be Elyk [= alike] Without diuisione baith to pur and ryk. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 4 b, The division is an openyng of thynges wherin we agree and rest upon, and wherein we sticke, and stande in traverse. 1611 Bible Exod. viii. 23, I will put a division between my people and thy people. |
4. The fact of being divided in opinion, sentiment, or interest; disagreement, variance, dissension, discord; an instance of this, a disagreement.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 381 Division..many a noble worthy town..Hath brought to great adversite. c 1477 Caxton Jason 71, I praye you..that ye kepe you from all dyuysion and roncour. 1526–34 Tindale Rom. xvi. 17 Marke them which cause division..and avoyde them. 1611 Bible 1 Cor. xi. 18, I heare that there be diuisions [Wycl. & Geneva, dissensions] among you. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 190 A bone of division betwixt the Turk and Persian. 1712 W. Harrison in Swift's Corr. 16 Dec., To sow division between us. 1847 Tennyson Princess iii. 62 Betwixt these two Division smoulders hidden. |
5. Math. a. The action or process of dividing one number or quantity by another, i.e. of finding how many times the latter is contained in the former, or, more generally, of finding a quantity (the quotient) which multiplied by the latter (the divisor) will produce the former (the dividend); the inverse of multiplication; a rule or method for doing this.
long division (in Arith.), the method usually adopted when the divisor is greater than 12, in which the products of the divisor by the several terms of the quotient are successively set down and subtracted from the corresponding portions of the dividend. short division: the method used when the divisor is 12 or less, in which the quotient is set down directly, without writing the successive products. compound d., simple d.: see these words. complementary division, direct division, and scratch d., ancient or obsolete methods of performing arithmetical division.
| c 1425 Craft Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 25 Þou schalt deuide alle þe nounbre þat comes of þe multiplicacion by þe neþer figures..but ȝet þou hast not þe craft of dyuision. 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes 126 a, If you would prove Multiplycation, the surest way is by Dyuision. Ibid. (1575) 148 Diuision is a distributing of a greater summe by the vnities of a lesser, Or Diuision is an Arithmeticall producing of a thirde number..which..shall so often conteyne an vnit, as the greater of the twoo propounded numbers doth containe the lesser. 1690 Leybourn Curs. Math. 18 The ways of performing Division are divers. 1706 W. Jones Syn. Palmar. Matheseos 25 Division is a Manifold Subduction; or the taking of one Number..out of another, as often as possible. 1823 H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 299 The division..is effected by subtracting the logarithm of the latter fraction from that of the former. |
† b. The process of ‘dividing’ a ratio, i.e. substituting the difference of its terms for either of them. Obs. (Now expressed by dividendo: cf. composition 5 c.)
| 1695 W. Alingham Geom. Epit. 19 If A: B:: C: D then by Division of reason it will be as A - B: B:: C - D: D. 1827 Hutton Course Math. I. 325 The term Divided, or Division, here means subtracting, or parting; being used in the sense opposed to compounding, or adding, in def. 86. |
6. Logic, etc. a. The action of dividing into kinds or classes; separation of a genus into species, called substantial division, or division per se; classification; esp. in scholastic logic, a rough kind of classification based on ordinary knowledge, not on methodical investigation. Also, less strictly, b. Enumeration of the parts of a whole, partition, called partible division. c. Distinction of the various significations of a term: called nominal division, in opposition to which the two preceding are also called real division.
| 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1567) 83 b, Euery man is either wastfull or couetous..This diuision is not good, for, many men offende in neither. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Annot., As for the diuision, Musicke is either speculatiue or practicall. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 181/2 Of Divisions, one is a distribution of the Genus into Species, and of the whole into parts;..Another is of a word into divers significations, when the same may be taken several ways. 1839 G. Bird Nat. Philos. 32 Absolute motion..relative motion..Besides these, there are some other divisions of motion..[as] uniform..accelerated..retarded. 1842 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. lv. (1860) 82 Division is the enumeration of the various co-ordinate species of which a proximate genus is composed. 1864 Bowen Logic iv. 99 Division resolves the Extension [of a Concept] into its constituent Genera and Species. |
† 7. Mus. a. The execution of a rapid melodic passage, originally conceived as the dividing of each of a succession of long notes into several short ones; such a passage itself, a florid phrase or piece of melody, a run; esp. as a variation on, or accompaniment to, a theme or ‘plain song’; hence often nearly = descant n. Phr. to run division: to execute such a passage or variation; also fig. (cf. descant v.) Obs.
| 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 21 Diuisions framde with such long discords, and not so much as a concord to end withall, argues a bad eare. c 1592 Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. iv, That kiss again! She runs division of my lips. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 209 Ditties..Sung by a faire Queene..With ravishing Diuision to her Lute. 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. i. i, He could not run division with more art Upon his quaking instrument. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. ii. 101 A Bass-Viol for Divisions must be of less size. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 308 Time will not permit me to run Divisions upon each of the Symptoms. 1779 Sheridan Critic i. i, Signoras..gargling glib divisions in their outlandish throats. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 21/2 s.v. Music, In the fine chorus..when the line ‘Hark! how the thund'ring giant roars’ occurs, he makes the bases roar in a long division, till they nearly gasp for breath. |
† b. fig. Variation, modulation. Obs.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 96 The King-becoming Graces..I haue no rellish of them, but abound In the diuision of each seuerall Crime, Acting it many wayes. |
8. The separating of the members of a legislative body, etc. into two groups, in order to count their votes; in the British Houses of Parliament effected by their passing into separate lobbies, the numbers on each side being counted by tellers.
| 1620 Jrnl. Ho. Com. 13 Feb. I. 520 Question whether the I or Noe to go out. The Noe yielded, before Division of the House. 1771 Gentl. Mag. XLI. 103 The Minority on the division was 101. 1794 Ibid. LXIV. ii. 727 The question..was then put and negatived without a division. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. II. iv. 115 He was in every division, and sat out every debate. |
II. What produces, or is produced by, dividing.
9. Something that divides or marks separation; a dividing line or mark; a graduated scale (quot. 1669); a boundary; a partition.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §19 Thise same strikes or diuisiouns ben cleped Azymuthz. And they deuyden the Orisonte of thin astrelabie in 24 deuisiouns. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 6 Noting and observing certaine divisions, answering unto .v. principall paralelles. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 76 On one side the slit you must place a Division of Inches, and every Inch into 10 Parts Divided. 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 51 The Funnel..shou'd have several divisions to cut the Wind. 1797 Monthly Mag. III. 144 A moveable circle, on which are engraved divisions respecting the periodical revolution of the moon. |
10. a. One of the parts into which anything is or may be divided; a portion, section.
By the Judicature Act of 1873, the Courts of King's (Queen's) Bench, Common Pleas, Chancery, etc., became ‘divisions’ of the High Court of Justice, e.g. Chancery Division, King's Bench Division, Probate and Admiralty Division.
| c 1374 Chaucer Compl. Mars 273 To yow hardy knyghtis of renoun, Syn that ye be of my deuisioun. 1382 Wyclif 2 Chron. xxxi. 2 Ezechias..sette prestis companyes and Levytis bi their devysiouns, echone in propre office. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 35 b, The leafe jagged in five divisions like a starre. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 225 ¶5 If we look into particular Communities and Divisions of Men..it is the discreet Man..who guides the Conversation. 1719 Swift To Yng. Clergyman Wks. 1755 II. ii. 10 Desiring you to express the heads of your divisions in as few and clear words as you possibly can. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 335/2 The total number of the [metropolitan police] force is 3486, who are placed in divisions, each division being employed in a distinct district. 1865 W. L. C. Etoniana vii. 117 Forms, or divisions, as they are termed at Eton. 1874 Deutsch Rem. 265 Our document contains six principal divisions. |
b. spec. A portion of a country, territory, county, district, etc., as marked off for some political, military, administrative, judicial, or other purpose; e.g. the parliamentary divisions or petty sessional divisions of the counties of the United Kingdom, the military divisions of the United States; the administrative divisions of the presidencies (except Madras) and provinces of British India, presided over by a commissioner, and subdivided into ‘districts’.
| 1640–1 Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 73 The Committie ordaines that everie captaine, within this divisione, bring in all the runawayes to the next Committie day. 1709 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) VI. 463 The constable..was out of his division. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Truro, The quarter-sessions for its S. and W. divisions being generally held here. 1802 Brookes Gazeteer (ed. 12), Kesteven, one of the three divisions of Lincolnshire. 1835 Penny Cycl. IV. 479/2 (Blackburn) A sort of supreme authority is vested in two officers..called high-constables, one for the higher and the other for the lower division of the hundred. 1837 Ibid. VIII. 456/2 (Devonshire) The county is divided into two parts for the purpose of parliamentary representation: each division sends two members. 1881 Imp. Gaz. India I. 531 Benares—a Division under a Commissioner in the North Western Provinces comprising the six Districts of Azamgarh, [etc.]. 1895 Oxford Direct. Oxford, the capital of and a polling place for the Mid division of the county..is locally in the hundred and petty sessional division of Bullingdon. |
c. Mil. and Naut. A portion of an army or fleet, consisting of a definite number of troops or vessels, under one commanding officer; also applied to a definite portion of a squadron or battalion (see quots.); also, a portion of a ship's company appropriated to a particular service; in pl., the parade of a ship's company according to its divisions.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. iii. 70 His diuisions..Are in three Heads: one Power against the French, And one against Glendower: Perforce a third Must take vp vs. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 108 When day-light appeared, euery Coronell led his Diuision or Regiment to a village. 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Division (in Marit. Affairs) the third part of a naval army or fleet, or of one of the squadrons therof under a general officer. 1796 Instr. & Reg. Cavalry 1 Each Squadron is to be told off—by Half squadrons. Four divisions. Eight sub-divisions. 1810 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. VI. 79 An army composed of divisions. 1832 Regul. Instr. Cavalry iii. 45 Division—In its strict sense, the fourth part of a Squadron. Divisions are numbered 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th from the right. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Division, a select number of ships in a fleet or squadron distinguished by a particular flag, pendant, or vane. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 320 Two or three battalions are usually formed into a brigade, two brigades into a division. 1915 ‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship iii. 54 Nine o'clock, sir; all ready for divisions. Ibid. 55 A moment later the bugle overhead blazed forth ‘Divisions’. 1947 B. Mason in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 338 It was Sunday, and we began to make ourselves ‘tiddly’ for Divisions. 1971 Daily Tel. 18 Jan. 10/3 ‘Divisions’, or the muster and inspection of the ship's company each morning in harbour, long regarded as sacrosanct, now seldom occurs more than once a week. |
d. Nat. Hist. A section of a larger group in classification: used widely of groups of higher or lower grade, as the divisions of a kingdom, class, order, family, or genus.
| 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 501/2 Cuvier..laid down the following general table of the animal kingdom: Four divisions: Vertebrated animals. Molluscous animals [etc.]. 1857 Henfrey Bot. ii. ii. 203 Jussieu established his primary divisions of the Vegetable Kingdom on characters which..define really natural groups..On these characters stood the three divisions, Acotyledons, Monocotyledons, and Dicotyledons. Ibid. ii. iii. 218 Subkingdom I. Phanerogamia..Division I. Angiospermia. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 359 Amniota..Three classes are included in this division of Vertebrata, the Mammalia, Aves, and Reptilia. |
e. A section of a railway line. Also attrib. U.S.
| 1858 W. P. Smith Gt. Railway Celebrations 98 The opening of the Western Division of the O. and M. Railroad. 1887 C. B. George 40 Yrs. on Rail xii. 254 My plan..is to have a book to be called the division book kept by each company. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 71 Every line in the United States is divided into divisions of various lengths... Each division is under the supervision of a man who is called a division road master. Ibid. 96 Wallace was a division terminus. 1892 A. C. Gunter Miss Dividends 10 This citizen soldier..had been one of the division engineers of the Union Pacific Railway. |
f. Any of the two or three grades of imprisonment to which certain misdemeanants could be sentenced with a view to separating hardened criminals from less serious offenders. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1865 Act 28 & 29 Vict. c. 126 §67 In every Prison to which this Act applies Prisoners convicted of Misdemeanor, and not sentenced to Hard Labour, shall be divided into at least Two Divisions, One of which shall be called the First Division; and..a Misdemeanant of the First Division shall not be deemed to be a Criminal Prisoner within the Meaning of this Act. 1898 Act 61 & 62 Vict. c. 41 §6 Prisoners..not sentenced to penal servitude or hard labour, shall be divided into three divisions... Where a person is.. sentenced to imprisonment without hard labour, the court may direct that he be treated as an offender of the first division or as an offender of the second division. If no direction is given by the court, the offender shall..be treated as an offender of the third division. 1918 A. Huxley Let. 30 Apr. (1969) 150 His trial takes place to-morrow, the appeal, which won't, I imagine, do any good except perhaps to change his six months from second to first division. 1947 Rep. Commissioners of Prisons 1945 64 in Parl. Papers 1946–7 (Cmd. 7146) XIV. 155 The provisions of this Bill [sc. the Criminal Justice Bill, 1938], so far as concerns the prison system, proposed..the abolition of sentences of Penal Servitude and imprisonment with Hard Labour, and of the Triple Division of Offenders. |
g. In the Civil Service, the technical designation of the several grades of clerks.
| 1876 London Gaz. 12 Feb. 638/2 A Lower Division of the Civil Service shall be constituted. It shall consist of Men Clerks and of Boy Clerks, engaged to serve in any Department of the State to which they may, from time to time, be appointed or transferred. Ibid. 639/1 Promotion from the Lower to the Higher Division of the Service shall not be made without a special certificate from the Civil Service Commissioners. 1892 S. Savill Civil Service Coach 2 The salaries of Clerks in the Second Division..shall commence at 70l. per annum. 1898 Guide Employm. Civil Service 15 Second Division Clerkships... The Second Division forms at present the rank and file of the permanent Civil Service. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. III. 605/1 There is a Civil Service Clerical Association and a First Division Association (the latter representing the administrative grade and taking its name from the old name for that grade). |
h. In Association Football, a group of teams in competition, usu. forming part of a league.
| 1899 Oakley & Smith Football iii. 170 A Second League has been formed, and the number of clubs admitted to the First League or Division has been enlarged. 1908 ‘Bedouin’ Scottish League Football 24 The Second Division of the League was created in 1894–5. 1912 A. Bennett Matador of Five Towns 9 If Knype drop into the Second Division..it'll be all up with first-class football in the Five Towns! 1966 Listener 20 Jan. 88/1 Ipswich Town topped the First Division for a season without ever seeming of international calibre. 1971 Times 13 Apr. 7/1 Leicester, in essence, are a first division club. |
† 11. Mus. A florid melodic passage: see 7. Obs.
III. 12. attrib. and Comb., as division-bell, division-list, division-lobby (sense 8), division-maker, division-making, etc.; division-mark (Mus.), a slur enclosing a numeral, placed over or under a group of notes not in the ordinary rhythm of the piece, (e.g. a triplet), and showing the number of notes; division-plate (see quot. 1874); † division-viol, a smaller kind of ‘bass-viol’, adapted for playing ‘divisions’ (sense 7); the same as viola da gamba (obs.).
| 1530 Palsgr. 408 Nouther the erthe nor the Gaulles suffre nothyng by this devysion makyng. 1656 Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 208 J. Procter..was a rare musicion, especiall for the Lyra violl and also for the division violl. 1667 C. Simpson (title) The Division-Viol; or the Art of playing extempore upon a Ground. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. ix. (1845) 119 Parliamentary traditions, division lists, election-funds. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Division-plate, the disk or wheel in the gear-cutting lathe, which is pierced with various circular systems of holes; each circle represents the divisions of a circumference into a given number of parts. 1880 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Division viol, a violin with frets upon the finger-board. 1894 Times 1 Oct. 6/1 Brigade drill, five days; division drill and manœuvres, four and a half days. |
Hence diˈvisionist, one who favours or advocates division; diˈvisionless a., without divisions, (in quot., Not taking part in a division).
| 1884 M{supc}Carthy Eng. under Gladstone ii. 37 A youthful ambition to be divisionless. 1889 Columbus (Ohio) Disp. 15 Jan., The divisionists are embarassed by the absence from the house..of [three members] in favour of division. |
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Add: [III.] [12.] division sign Math., the symbol {div}, placed between two quantities to indicate that the former is to be divided by the latter.
| [1845 Encycl. Metrop. I. 483/1, {div} by, the sign of division.] 1934 Webster s.v. Division, The sign {div}, *division sign or mark, placed between numerical expressions indicates [etc.]. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XV. 76/1 The division sign ({div}) used in Great Britain and in the United States comes from an algebra written by Johann H. Rahn. |