parted, ppl. a.
(ˈpɑːtɪd)
I. [pa. pple. of part v.: see -ed1.]
1. Divided into parts; severed, cloven; divided, as the hair, by a parting.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 194 Me-thinks I see these things with parted eye, When euery thing seemes double. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 302 Hyacinthin Locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clustring. 1817 Keats ‘Woman! when I behold thee’ ii, Light feet, dark violet eyes, and parted hair. |
b. Bot. Divided or cleft nearly to the base, as a corolla or calyx; esp. with a numeral indicating the number of divisions, as 3-parted, tripartite.
| 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. vi. §5 (ed. 6) 245 The calyx or corolla..is said to be parted (3-parted, 5-parted, etc.). |
c. Her. = party a. 3; hence of cloth, trappings, etc.: cf. party a. 2.
| 1482 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxli. S ij, A mylk whyte stede..trapped with cloth of gold and rede parted [ed. 1520 partyed] to geder. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Heraldry D iij, Armys partit aftir the long way. Ibid. D vj, In armys partit it is requyrit alway that the partys of the colouris be equall. 1562 Leigh Armorie 44 Parted per Pale. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 383 Two fayre steedes, trapped in riche cloth of Golde, parted of red and white. 1823 Rutter Fonthill p. xxi, Beckford, Parted per Pale Gules, and Azure. |
† d. Of diverse kinds or colours intermixed; parti-coloured, pied. Obs. (Cf. party a. 2.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 471 Herfore biddiþ God in his lawe þat his men shulden not be cloþid in wollun & lynnun partid to-gidere. 1570 North Doni's Philos. (1888) 70 So goodly a beaste..with his parted hide (halfe blacke, halfe white) and blased starre in the foreheade. |
2. Separated, sundered; placed or standing apart.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad v. 898 So soon his wound's parted sides ran close in his recure. 1727 Gay Fables i. xxxiv. 38 Awhile the parted warriors stood. 1879 Black Macleod of D. xli. 372 With her saucy eyes and her laughing and parted lips. |
3. Departed, gone away; deceased, dead. arch.
| 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 161 A timely-parted Ghost, Of ashy semblance, meager, pale, and bloodlesse. 1597 Warner Alb. Eng. i. i. 3 Their parted fathers Ghost. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc viii. 93 And hymn the requiem to his parted soul. a 1838 Campbell Last Man, Yet mourn I not thy 'parted sway, Thou dim discrowned king of day! |
4. Divided between two or more; shared.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 48 So off he did his shield, and..him up thereon did reare, And twixt them both with parted paines did beare. |
II. [f. part n. + -ed2.]
† 5. (Usually with qualifying word.) Furnished with or having (good, mean, etc.) ‘parts’ or abilities (see part n. 12); gifted, talented, accomplished. Obs.
| 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. Pref. 7 A Man well parted, a sufficient Scholler. ― Cynthia's Rev. v. ii, A man rarely parted, second to none in this court. 1628 Earle Microcosm., Detractor (Arb.) 43 A detractor..commonly some weak parted fellow. a 1668 Davenant News fr. Plymouth ii. Wks. 1873 IV. 126 Better parted, more polite and vers'd in The rules of courtship. |
6. Charged with a dramatic part or character. (See also over-parted.)
| 1612 Heywood Apol. Actors (1841) 28, I have seen Tragedyes, Comedyes,..publicly acted, in which the graduates..have been specially parted. Mod. Newsp., I have seen Sir Henry better ‘parted’ a score of times, and Miss Ellen Terry a hundred times. |
Hence ˈpartedness (in quot., in sense 5).
| 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 12 Wisdome, though but knavery, men afford so many grains of esteem, as to term partednesse, and cunning. |