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The act of leaping or starting asunder. Johnson.

Starting asunder; bursting and opening with an elastic force; dehiscing explosively; as, a dissilient pericarp.

Lying apart. [Obs.] Lands far dissite and remote asunder. Holland.

ndo; to separate. Nothing can dissolve us. Shak. Down fell the duke, his joints dissolved asunder. Fairfax. For one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another. The Declaration of Independence.

Separated; drawn asunder. [Obs.]

Torn asunder; separated. [Obs.] "His greedy throat . . . distraught." Spenser.

To part; to fall asunder; to become separated. The joints of the body politic do separate and disunite. South.

Diverging; spreading asunder; widely diverging.

Drawing asunder. [R.]

To part asunder (a whole); to sever into two or more parts or pieces; to sunder; to separate into parts. Divide the living child in two. 1 Kings iii. 25.

Tending to pull asunder, tear, or rend; distracting.

The act of breaking or snapping asunder; rupture; breach.

To tear asunder; to break in pieces. The other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and torn to pieces. Burke.

To cut in pieces; to chop; to hack. Hew them to pieces; hack their bones asunder. Shak.

A cutting off, through, or asunder; interruption. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

s virgin in matrimony. Wyclif. What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matt. xix. 6.

To be broken or divided into parts or pieces; to break; to become separated; to go asunder; as, rope parts; his hair parts in the middle.

To slash; to hack; to slice. [Obs.] Rushing of helms and riving plates asunder. Spenser.

To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to tear asunder; to split; to burst; as, powder rends a rock in blasting; lightning rends an oak. The dreadful thunder Doth rend the region. Shak.

To rend asunder by force; to split; to cleave; as, to rive timber for rails or shingles. I shall ryve him through the sides twain. Chaucer. The scolding winds have rived the knotty oaks. Shak. Brutus hath rived my heart. Shak.