Divide

Divide - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

DIVIDE, v.t. [L., to part. See the latter words.]

1. To part or separate an entire thing; to part a thing into two or more pieces.

Divide the living child in two. 1 Ki 3.

2. To cause to be separate; to keep apart by a partition or by an imaginary line or limit. A wall divides two houses. The equator divides the earth into two hemispheres.

Let the firmament divide the waters from the waters. Gen 1.

3. To make partition of, among a number.

Ye shall divide the land by lot. Num 33.

4. To open; to cleave.

Thou dist divide the sea. Neh 9.

5. To disunite in opinion or interest; to make discordant.

There shall be five in one house divided, three against two--Luke 12.

6. To distribute; to separate and bestow in parts or shares.

And he divided to them his living. Luke 15.

7. To make dividends; to apportion the interest or profits of stock among proprietors; as, the bank divides six per cent.

8. To separate into two parts, for ascertaining opinions for and against a measure; as, to divide a legislative house, in voting.

DIVIDE, v.i.

1. To part; to open; to cleave.

2. To break friendship; as, brothers divide.

3. To vote by the division of a legislative house into two parts.

The emperors sat, voted and divided with their equals.

di-vid': It is difficult to decide whether ragha` (Job 26:12; Isa 51:15; Jer 31:35) should be rendered "to stir up" or "to still." The Hebrew has both meanings. Some render "He causes the sea to tremble." the Revised Version (British and American) reads "to stir" in text and "to still" in margin, while the King James Version has "to divide" in all three cases. 2Ch 35:13, "carried them quickly" (the King James Version "divided them speedily"). Since cholaq, may mean either "to distribute" or "to be smooth," Ho 10:2 reads "their heart is divided" in the text, but offers "smooth" in margin (the King James Version "divided"). The Greek orthotomeo, means "to cut straight," hence, the more literal translation of 2Ti 2:15, "handling aright the word of truth" (note "holding a straight course in the way of truth" or "rightly dividing the word of truth"; the King James Version "rightly dividing").

A. L. Breslich