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The act of distributing or dispensing; the act of dividing or apportioning among several or many; apportionment; as, the distribution of an estate among heirs or children. The phenomena of geological distribution are exactly analogous to those of geography. A. R. Wallace.

Rigorous; stringent; harsh. [Obs.] Punishing with the rod of district severity. Foxe.

To destroy the union of; to divide; to part; to sever; to disjoin; to sunder; to separate; as, to disunite particles of matter.

Several; sundry; various; more than one, but not a great number; as, divers philosophers. Also used substantively or pronominally. Divers of Antonio's creditors. Shak.

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.

To make public; to several or communicate to the public; to tell (a secret) so that it may become generally known; to disclose; -- said of that which had been confided as a secret, or had been before unknown; as, to divulge a secret. Divulge not such a love as mine. Cowper.

One of several shores used to hold a ship firmly and prevent her moving while the blocks are knocked away before launching.

s. [Obs.] -- Dole bread, bread bestowed as alms. [Obs.] -- Dole meadow, a meadow in which several persons have a common right or share.

ifferent countries, current in Mexico, Canada, parts of South America, also in Spain, and several other European countries.

ouse or of an apartment, by which to go in and out; an entrance way. To the same end, men several paths may tread, As many doors into one temple lead. Denham.

breed of large-bodied domestic fowls, having five toes, or the hind toe double. There are several strains, as the white, gray, and silver-gray. They are highly esteemed for the table.

A small European rodent of the genus Myoxus, of several species. They live in trees and feed on nuts, acorns, etc.; -- so called because they are usually torpid in winter.

A spear bearer; a statue of a man holding a spear or in the attitude of a spear bearer. Several important sculptures of this subject existed in antiquity, copies of which remain to us.

by which two players are put out at the 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 i…

One of several pieces fayed across the apron and lapped in the knightheads, or inside planking above the upper deck. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

. Draconian code, or Draconian laws, a code of laws made by Draco. Their measures were so severe that they were said to be written in letters of blood; hence, any laws of excessive rigor.

r collection of persons, or from the people at large; also, the body of men thus drafted. Several of the States had supplied the deficiency by drafts to serve for the year. Marshall.

A small arboreal lizard of the genus Draco, of several species, found in the East Indies and Southern Asia. Five or six of the hind ribs, on each side, are prolonged and covered with weblike skin, forming a sort of wing. These prolongations aid them in making long leaps from tree to tree. Called also flying lizard.…

The severe persecution of French Protestants under Louis XIV., by an armed force, usually of dragoons; hence, a rapid and devastating incursion; dragoonade. He learnt it as he watched the dragonnades, the tortures, the massacres of the Netherlands. C. Kingsley.

exercise, physical or mental, enforced with regularity and by constant repetition; as, a severe drill in Latin grammar.