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primary members of the vault. These are strong arches, meeting and crossing one another, dividing the whole space into triangles, which are then filled by vaulted construction of lighter material. Hence, an imitation of one of these in wood, plaster, or the like.

Rock material in a vein of ore, dividing it.

An instrument for cutting or dividing substances, as wood, iron, etc., consisting of a thin blade, or plate, of steel, with a series of sharp teeth on the edge, which remove successive portions of the material by cutting and tearing.

The act of dividing with an instrument having a sharp edge. Wiseman.

The act or process of dividing into segments; specifically (Biol.), a self-division into segments as a result of growth; cell cleavage; cell multiplication; endogenous cell formation. Segmentation cavity (Biol.), the cavity formed by the arrangement of the cells in segmentation or cleavage of the ovum; the cavity of th…

Dividing the partitions; -- said of a method of dehiscence in which a pod splits through the partitions and is divided into its component carpels.

One of the transverse partitions dividing the shell of a mollusk, or of a rhizopod, into several chambers. See Illust. under Nautilus.

The act of dividing; the singling or severing of two or more that join, or are joined, in one writ; the putting in several or separate pleas or answers by two or more disjointly; the destruction of the unity of interest in a joint estate. Bouvier.

The act or operation of dividing with shears; as, the shearing of metal plates.

hin plates, blades, or other devices, that depress the loops upon or between the needles. Dividing sinker, in knitting machines, a sinker between two jack sinkers and acting alternately with them. -- Jack sinker. See under Jack, n. -- Sinker bar. (a) In knitting machines, a bar to which one set of the sinkers is atta…

Specif (Leather Manuf.), one of the sections of a skin made by dividing it into two or more thicknesses.

The act or phenomenon of spontaneously dividing transversely, as do certain species of annelids and helminths; transverse fission. See Illust. under Syllidian.

The act of subdividing, or separating a part into smaller parts.

The weight supported per square unit of surface; the quotient obtained by dividing the gross weight, in pounds, of a fully loaded flying machine, by the total area, in square feet, of its supporting surface.

The act of forming syllables; the act or method of dividing words into syllables. See Guide to Pron., §275.

The operation of dividing the symphysis pubis for the purpose of facilitating labor; -- formerly called the Sigualtian section. [Written also symphysotomy.] Dunglison.

t of a plant which penetrates the earth directly downward to a considerable depth without dividing.

The division of a tendon, or the act of dividing a tendon.

The dividing line between the illuminated and the unilluminated part of the moon.

Dividing into three parts; -- said of a number which exactly divides another into three parts.