divider
(dɪˈvaɪdə(r))
[f. divide v. + -er1.]
One who or that which divides, in various senses.
1. One who or that which separates a whole into parts or portions.
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Ochavero, a deuider into eight parts. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies i. ix. 78. 1674 J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 54 The Sun and Moon..the dividers of time into dayes and years. 1774 Hist. in Ann. Reg. 2/2 The dividers of Poland. 1862 F. Hall Hindu Philos. Syst. 239 Two several dividers of intelligence. |
2. One who distributes, a distributor; one who shares something with another.
| 1526–34 Tindale Luke xii. 14 Who made me a iudge or a devider over you? 1587 Golding De Mornay i. 3 There is a devider or distributer of these things. 1802 Noble Wanderers II. 88 Roused from the stupor of her affliction by this little divider of her cares. |
† 3. One who makes philosophical distinctions (cf. divide v. 4 b); one who classifies. Obs.
| 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. xiii. 57 Plato..compareth inartificial dividers to bungling cookes, who in stead of artificiall carving, use rudely to breake and dismember thinges. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God vi. ii. (1620) 227 Who was euer a more curious inquisitor of these things..a more elegant diuider, or a more exact recorder? |
4. One who or that which disunites, separates, or parts; a causer of dissension or discord.
| 1643 Milton Divorce ii. xxi, Hate is of all things the mightiest divider. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. iv, Money, the great divider of the world, hath..been the great uniter of a most divided people. 1870 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. xv. 295. 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 56 They swear that death the divider Shall only unite them more. |
† 5. Arith. = divisor. Obs. rare.
| 1797 Monthly Mag. 130 By my method of dividers, other numbers might have been assumed for the value of y. |
6. pl. a. Dividing compasses; a kind of compasses worked by means of a screw fastened to one leg and passing through the other; used for measuring or setting off very small intervals. b. A simple pair of compasses with steel points.
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 316 You may in small Quadrants divide truer and with less trouble with Steel Dividers, (which open or close with a Screw for that purpose,) then you can with Compasses. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket-bk. v. (ed. 2) 195 Chart, scale, and dividers. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 12 Compasses which have both points of steel are called ‘dividers’. 1881 Metal World No. 14. 218 A pair of 4½ in. or 5 in. plain dividers, or what are called hair dividers. |
7. Farming. (See quot.)
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Divider (Husbandry), the prow or wedge-formed piece on a reaping-machine, which divides the grain to be cut from the standing grain. |
8. Mining. pl. Timbers or scantling put across a shaft to divide it into compartments: also called buntons. (Raymond Mining Gloss.)
9. A partition or screen; spec. a piece of furniture or the like dividing a room into two parts; freq. room-divider.
| 1959 D. Barton Loving Cup 95 Alastair slid back a panel in a walnut room divider and brought out brandy and glasses. Ibid. 96 Climbing plants trailing up the room divider. 1960 House & Garden May 59 Divider (with glass shelves), {pstlg}30. 1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage iii. 80 A feature of modern open-plan living-rooms is often the room divider, screening the dining area or study from the main sitting room. 1970 Harper's Bazaar Oct. 17/2 The restaurant is spacious with raffia'd dividers between the tables. |