division

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English divisioun, from Old French division, from Latin dīvīsiō, dīvīsiōnem, noun of process form from perfect passive participle dīvīsus (“divided”), from dīvidō (“divide”). Doublet of divisio.

noun

1. (uncountable) The act or process of dividing anything.
2. Each of the separate parts of something resulting from division.
3. (arithmetic, uncountable) The process of dividing a number by another.
4. (arithmetic) A calculation that involves this process.
   I've got ten divisions to do for my homework.
5. (military) A formation, usually made up of two or three brigades.
6. A usually high-level section of a large company or conglomerate.
7. (taxonomy) A rank below kingdom and above class, particularly used of plants or fungi, also (particularly of animals) called a phylum; a taxon at that rank.
   Magnolias belong to the division Magnoliophyta.
8. A disagreement; a difference of viewpoint between two sides of an argument.
9. (government) A method by which a legislature is separated into groups in order to take a better estimate of vote than a voice vote.
   The House of Commons has voted to approve the third reading of the bill without a division. The bill will now progress to the House of Lords.
10. (music) A florid instrumental variation of a melody in the 17th and 18th centuries, originally conceived as the dividing of each of a succession of long notes into several short ones.
11. (music) A set of pipes in a pipe organ which are independently controlled and supplied.
12. (law) A concept whereby a common group of debtors are only responsible for their proportionate sum of the total debt.
13. (computing) Any of the four major parts of a COBOL program source code.
14. (UK, Eton College) A lesson; a class.
15. (Australia) A parliamentary constituency.