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l division or cleavage of the into two parts, each of which then becomes a separate and independent organisms; as when a cell in an animal or plant, or its germ, undergoes a spontaneous division, and the parts again subdivide. See Segmentation, and Cell division, under Division.

to protect the frontier against hostile incursion. -- Flank patrol, detachments acting independently of the column of an army, but patrolling along its flanks, to secure it against surprise and to observe the movements of the enemy.

Having broad, loose, dependent ears. Shak.

nde. It may sometimes include slaty structure or cleavage, though the latter is usually independent of any mineral constituent, and transverse to the bedding, it having been produced by pressure.

1. One who follows; a pursuer; an attendant; a disciple; a dependent associate; a retainer.

One's followers, adherents, or dependents, collectively. Macaulay.

r As for, so far as concerns; as regards; with reference to; -- used parenthetically or independently. See under As. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Josh. xxiv. 15. For me, my stormy voyage at an end, I to the port of death securely tend. Dryden. -- For all that, notwithstanding; in spite of. -- For al…

, which is called the matter; subjectively, a mode of apprehension or belief conceived as dependent on the constitution of the mind; objectively, universal and necessary accompaniments or elements of every object known or thought of.

Dependent in form; conventional. Still in constraint your suffering sex remains, Or bound in formal or in real chains. Pope.

Happening independently of human will or means of foresight; resulting from unavoidable physical causes. Abbott.

Receiving same unforeseen or unexpected good, or some good which was not dependent on one's own skill or efforts; favored with good forune; lucky.

one's own impulses, desires, or inclinations; determining one's own course of action; not dependent; at liberty. That which has the power, or not the power, to operate, is that alone which is or is not free. Locke.

One who speculates or forms opinions independently of the authority of others; esp., in the sphere or religion, one who forms opinions independently of the authority of revelation or of the church; an unbeliever; -- a term assumed by deists and skeptics in the eighteenth century. Atheist is an old-fashioned word: I'm a…

nnected therewith. -- Explicit function, a quantity directly expressed in terms of the independently varying quantity; thus, in the equations y = 6x2, y = 10 -x3, the quantity y is an explicit function of x. -- Implicit function, a quantity whose relation to the variable is expressed indirectly by an equation; thus,…

Dependent on the tension of a cord.

cal mile. See under Mile. -- Geographical variation, any variation of a species which is dependent on climate or other geographical conditions.

A composition in which the bass, consisting of a few bars of independent notes, is continually repeated to a varying melody.

An irregular mode of carrying on war, by the constant attacks of independent bands, adopted in the north of Spain during the Peninsular war.

h, through the tendency of the rotating wheel to preserve a constant plane of rotation, independently of the earth's motion.

A dependent; a hanger-on; -- so called in contempt. B. Jonson.