Search the Dictionary

The quality or state of being distinct; a separation or difference that prevents confusion of parts or things. The soul's . . . distinctness from the body. Cudworth.

The act of distracting; a drawing apart; separation. To create distractions among us. Bp. Burnet.

edge or indemnification; to take possession of as security for nonpayment of rent, the reparation of an injury done, etc.; to take by distress; as, to distrain goods for rent, or of an amercement.

Separation into parts or classes; arrangement of anything into parts; disposition; classification.

Expressing separation; denoting a taking singly, not collectively; as, a distributive adjective or pronoun, such as each, either, every; a distributive numeral, as (Latin) bini (two by two). Distributive operation (Math.), any operation which either consists of two or more parts, or works upon two or more things, and w…

The termination of union; separation; disjunction; as, the disunion of the body and the soul.

A state of separation or disunion; want of unity. Dr. H. More.

A separation into two parts or branches; a forking; a divergence.

To cause separation; to disunite. A gulf, a strait, the sea intervening between islands, divide less than the matted forest. Bancroft.

quality of being divisible; the property of bodies by which their parts are capable of separation. Divisibility . . . is a primary attribute of matter. Sir W. Hamilton.

The act or process of diving anything into parts, or the state of being so divided; separation. I was overlooked in the division of the spoil. Gibbon.

visional general; a divisional surgeon of police. Divisional planes (Geol.), planes of separation between rock masses. They include joints.

Creating, or tending to create, division, separation, or difference. It [culture] is after all a dainty and divisive quality, and can not reach to the depths of humanity. J. C. Shairp. -- Di*vi"sive*ly, adv. -- Di*vi"sive*ness, n. Carlyle.

The separation of a married woman from the bed and board of her husband -- divorce a mensa et toro (or thoro), "from bed board."

Dissolution of the marriage tie; divorce; separation. Let him write her a divorcement. Deut. xxiv. 1. The divorcement of our written from our spoken language. R. Morris.

Any thick liquid or pasty preparation, as of opium for medicinal purposes, of grease for a lubricant, etc.

he same time. -- Double plea (Law), a plea alleging several matters in answer to the declaration, where either of such matters alone would be a sufficient bar to the action. Stephen. -- Double point (Geom.), a point of a curve at which two branches cross each other. Conjugate or isolated points of a curve are called…

Making contrary declarations on the same subject; deceitful. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued. 1 Tim. iii. 8.

A preparation to fit food for use; a condiment; as, a dressing for salad.

n, Church over the question of papal supremacy and the doctrine of the filioque, and a separation, begun in the latter part of the 9th century, became final in 1054. The Eastern Church consists of twelve (thirteen if the Bulgarian Church be included) mutually independent churches (including among these the Hellenic Chu…