diˈvided, ppl. a.
[f. divide v. + -ed1.]
1. Separated into parts. a. Split, cut, or broken into pieces; † incomplete, imperfect (quot. 1595).
| 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Abscissus..deuided, broken. 1595 Shakes. John ii. 439 And she a faire diuided excellence, Whose fulnesse of perfection lyes in him. 1831 Brewster Optics xiv. 113 A plate of glass covered with..dust in a finely divided state. |
b. Marked out into parts; marked by divisions, graduated; consisting of distinct parts; in Bot. (of leaves, etc.) cut into segments.
| 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. iii. (1677) 71 Divided-footed-Fowl. 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 95 A divided Box. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) I. 24 The Species are..arranged according as the Leaves are divided, or not divided. 1831 Brewster Optics xxvii. §131 A goniometer, or other divided instrument. |
† c. Said of the moon in the phase at which half the disk is illuminated; = dichotomized 2.
| 1822 T. Taylor Apuleius 292 [The moon] cornicular, or divided, or gibbous, or full. |
d. divided skirt: see skirt n. 1.
2. a. Separated from something else, or from each other; situated apart; separate.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. ii. 8 The Province of Britain in so divided a distance from Rome. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. iii. 140 Possibly the first divided King of Babylon was that Nabonassar. 1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1711) 105 Those Birds that have divided Claws. |
b. Mus. Said of voices or instruments, usually in unison, to which independent parts are temporarily assigned in the course of a piece.
| 1880 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Divisi, divided. A direction that instruments playing from one line of music are to separate and play in two parts. |
3. Separated in opinion or interest; discordant, at variance; split into parties or factions.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iv. 244 He little thought of this diuided Friendship. 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 129 The unstable vulgar..whose divided tongues, as they never agree with each other; so seldome..agree long with themselves. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xxx. 136 A divided court, and a discontented people. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 454 Divided and tumultuous assemblies. 1871 Blackie Four Phases i. 113 Any charm that might save a jury from the pain of giving a divided verdict. |
4. Distributed or parted among a number of things or persons; directed to different objects.
| 1607 Shakes. Timon i. ii. 49 The fellow that..pledges the breath of him in a diuided draught. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 415 Where beasts with man divided empire claim. c 1845 C. Mackay Candid Wooing iii, Accept then a divided heart. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 249 The difficulties into which he was brought through this divided allegiance. |
† 5. Math. divided ratio: see divide v. 9 c.
| 1660 Barrow Euclid v. def. 15, Divided ratio is when the excess wherein the antecedent exceeds the consequent, is compared to the consequent. 1827 Hutton Course Math. I. 325 Divided ratio, is when the difference of the antecedent and consequent is compared, either with the antecedent or with the consequent.—Thus, if 1:2::3:6, then, by division, 2–1:1::6–3:3, and 2–1:2::6–3:6. |