ramifyv.
/ˈramᵻfʌɪ/, U.S. /ˈræməˌfaɪ/ 1.
a. transitive. To cause to spread out as branches or ramifications. Frequently in passive. Also reflexive. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > inclination > divergence > thrust apart [verb (transitive)] > cause to ramify
dividec1400
ramify?a1425
spray1572
bifurcate1615
disseminate1664
divaricate1671
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.:Wallner) i. 104 Þar þai [sc. the arteries or veins] bene ramified [L. ramificantur] in-to 2 parties... One ascendeþ vpward.., Anoþer in descendyng is ramified [L. ramificatur; Fr. se ramefie] in 2.
1565 J. Hall Courte of Vertue 31 b But we O Lorde, that be alyue, Thy prayse wyll spreade and ramifye.
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man v f. 77v The braunches..are ramified abroad through the thinne Membran.
1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 296 The seede, or roote out of which all the specials following..are as it were procreated, and ramified.
1653 W. Harvey Anat. Exercitations 533 This litle cord..is ramified into many other almost infinite litle Branches; by which the Aliment attracted as it were by so many roots, is derived to the fœtus.
1670 W. Marshall Answers upon Several Heads Philos. ii. 21 The same collateral vessels ramify themselves distinctly unto the parts all along on the same side.
1721 Memoirs (Royal Acad. Sci. Paris) (ed. 2) ii. 270 The Heart has but one Ventricle, and one Artery which goes ramifying itself.
1767 B. Gooch Pract. Treat. Wounds I. 273 The vessels, which are ramefied in, and upon the plicatures of the pia Mater.
1788 G. White Jrnl. 28 June (1970) xxi. 311 The roof is supported by 16 pillars of cast iron,..which are so ramifyed at the top as to give the roof something of a Gothic air.
1855 Times 15 Dec. 7/2 It branches off into two mains of 2 ft. 6 in. diameter each, and these are further ramified into branch pipes extending over 107 miles of ground.
1976 Jrnl. Theoret. Biol. 46 423 The other, lower expansion of the dendritic tree of py-neurons is formed by the so-called ‘basal’ dendrites which are ramified with roughly spherical symmetry around the cell body.
2004 Vision Res. 44 3307 At early developmental stage, however, the dendrites of most RGCs [retinal ganglion cells] are ramified throughout the IPL [= inner plexiform layer].
b. transitive. In extended use and figurative.
ΚΠ
1799 W. Godwin St. Leon IV. viii. 189 I had for years been inured to satisfy myself with a sparing stock of pleasures; and I was less at a loss to expand and ramify those which I now possessed.
1825 C. Maclaren Railways 27 Railways..may be ramified over a whole country.
1850 T. Dick Compl. Wks. I. v. iii. 84/1 They endeavour to expand and ramify the figures employed by the sacred writers.
1866 Times 8 Jan. 10/7 By degrees the order spread and ramified itself throughout the whole of Canada.
1970 Times 5 Feb. 13/1 It would be unfair to disclose such ramifications of the plot as the playwright has had the skill to ramify.
1987 D. Hey Family Hist. & Local Hist. in Eng. ii. 76 Younger branches of the family ramified the surname far and wide.
2004 R. Scollon & S. Wong Nexus Anal. p. iii They consider the power of communication media to cause and ramify change.
2. † b. transitive. To subdivide; to divide into component or related parts. Also intransitive: to perform such a division. Obsolete.
a. intransitive. Of a thing or a concept: to be separated into component or related parts. Chiefly with in(to). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > inclination > divergence > diverge [verb (intransitive)]
to-liec893
ramify?1541
sever1545
fork1605
divaricate1623
diverge1665
bifurcate1828
split1856
trifurcate1887
?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens ii. sig. Gjv Yet agaynwarde they ramyfye in to two partyes [Fr. elles se ramifient en deux parties].
1757 tr. Marquis d'Argens Philos. Visions xv. 137 Many of our Philosophers..discover Truths which divide and subdivide, and ramify almost to Infinity.
1805 W. Saunders Treat. Mineral Waters (ed. 2) 12 A system of cylindrical vessels generally ramifying into minute branches.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. I. 200 Esculent colic may be justly contemplated as ramifying into the three following varieties.
1869 A. J. Evans Vashti vii. 89 If you can trace a fibre [of the genealogical tree] that ramifies in the miller's family, I will gladly..claim cousinship.
1896 Times 25 Jan. 7/4 Regard the matter, not at the point of altitude where it ramifies into differences, but at the common basis.
1982 E. Pols Acts of Our Being i. 19 Sub-acts..themselves ramify, in other sub-acts of a lower rank.
2002 Canad. Jrnl. Public Health (Nexis) 93 79 The volume ramifies into a tetrad of ‘parts’, comprised collectively of 20 chapters.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > divide [verb (transitive)] > divide into branches
ramify1681
branch1700
1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis ii. v. ii. 251 The Catstail-Sponge. This also is ramify'd, sc. into three large Branches.
1763 J. Hall-Stevenson Pastoral Cordial 10 These Points discuss'd, and fairly tried, The rest in Order will succeed, Drawn out, display'd and ramify'd, Like Pedigrees, or like a Creed.
1800 T. Jefferson Let. 18 Jan. in Papers (2004) XXXI. 321 Some of these articles are too much for one professor & must therefore be ramified.
1834 S. Cooper Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 105 In dividing them into two distinct sub-species,..he ramifies very unnecessarily.
1854 Times 9 Jan. 6/4 The two former are ramified through numerous sub-divisions—the Baptists having 5 and the Methodists 9 different ‘connexions’.
3.
a. intransitive. Of a plant, polyp, blood vessel, etc.: to form branches or ramifications.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > grow or vegetate [verb (intransitive)] > spring up, grow, or branch
brancha1382
ramify1576
the world > plants > part of plant > part defined by form or function > have particular form or function [verb (intransitive)] > form particular shape
ramify1576
digitate1796
elongate1801
the world > space > relative position > inclination > divergence > diverge [verb (intransitive)] > ramify or branch
twist1340
branch1398
ramify1576
derivea1612
sprig1658
divaricate1672
subdivide1681
ramificate1780
spray1872
divide1878
1576 T. Newton tr. L. Lemnie Touchstone of Complexions ii. v. f. 133 Those Trees and Sprayes that do not burgen and ramifye.
1577 Vicary's Profitable Treat. Anat. sig. Div In this panicle Pia mater is much to bee noted of the great number of Ueynes and Arteirs that are planted, ramefying throughout al his substaunce, geuing to the brayne both spirite and lyfe.
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man viii. f. 109 That [nerve] which runneth inward..ramifieng to that first Muscle.
1658 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica (ed. 3) ii. v. 72 Whether..some [Corals]..were able even in their stony natures to ramifie and send forth branches.
1731 J. Arbuthnot Ess. Nature Aliments iii. 29 When they [sc. asparagus plants] are older and begin to ramify they lose this quality.
1787 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 77 419 The branches of the bronchiæ which ramify into the lungs.
1842 E. J. Lance Cottage Farmer 18 The roots are allowed to ramify and collect additional nourishment.
1877 H. A. Nicholson Anc. Life-hist. Earth (1878) xii. 169 The Stigmariæ are generally found ramifying in the ‘under-clay’.
1907 A. Gaut Seaside Planting of Trees & Shrubs i. 11 Their roots, ramifying in all directions, would bind the soil together.
1968 P. Brien in M. Florkin & B. T. Scheer Chem. Zool. II. i. i. 1 They [sc. sponges] may ramify like a bush or tree.
1996 Acta Botanica Neerlandica 45 367 Plants from central areas, with tall vegetation, were expected to ramify less.
b. intransitive. figurative. To extend; to spread (in various directions); to grow in complexity or range.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > extend [verb (reflexive)]
spread1340
stretcha1387
extend1481
ramify1796
1796 Times 16 June 2/2 The capital is agitated by commotions, which..ramify into the very Legislative Body.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. I. 260 [Cholera] spread..to Panwell, where it ramified north and south.
1861 T. E. May Constit. Hist. Eng. (1863) II. xiv. 428 Dissent had grown and spread and ramified throughout the land.
1876 A. Bain Emotions & Will (ed. 3) i. 21 The falsehood, mistakes, confusion, and fatality growing out of this property of the feelings, ramify in every province of affairs and every relation of human life.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. I. xxviii. 443 The machinery of the National government ramifies over the whole Union.
1903 Times 24 June 4/1 A great blow has been struck at..the departmental unions which ramify in the State railway services throughout the Commonwealth.
1939 D. Whittlesey Earth & State iii. 27 It may be taken for granted that every major mode of economic land occupance ramifies into politics.
1986 Classical Q. New Ser. 80 238 We really mean that one MS of this age was copied and thereby produced the medieval tradition which ramified from it.
2002 J. Keegan Winston Churchill 34 His understanding of its nature was to ramify throughout the rest of his life.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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