subdividen.
/ˌsʌbdᵻˈvʌɪd/, /ˈsʌbdᵻvʌɪd/, U.S. /ˈsəbdəˈˌvaɪd/ Now rare or disused.
A subsidiary divide between branches of a river system; a minor watershed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > land near river > [noun] > between rivers
Doab1638
Mesopotamia1651
subdivide1857
interfluve1902
1857 A. Schott in W. H. Emory Rep. U.S. & Mexican Boundary Surv. II. iv. 73 It [sc. Sierra del Ajo] forms a subdivide, but the separated waters unite before they are lost in the waste of sand along the Gulf coast.
1902 W. M. Davis Elem. Physical Geogr. 243 When a plain or plateau..is well dissected numerous..subdivides are developed between the smaller rivers and their branches.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
subdividev.
/ˌsʌbdᵻˈvʌɪd/, /ˈsʌbdᵻvʌɪd/, U.S. /ˈsəbdəˈˌvaɪd/ 1.
a. transitive. To divide (a part of a divided whole) into further or subsidiary parts; to divide further (a section or division); (also in less specific sense) to divide (an undivided whole); to split (something) into sections or divisions. Also occasionally intransitive.When used in passive, to describe state or condition (in this and following transitive senses), the construction to subdivide into more or less conveys the sense ‘to comprise (specified) subsidiary parts or sections; to consist of’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > divide [verb (transitive)] > subdivide
subdivide?a1425
subdivisionatea1586
subdichotomize1606
suppart1620
under-part1631
subsect1654
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 63 In curacion of emorogie..þer be made 3-membred diuision... And it is subdiuided for diuertyngez þat ar more appropriate to flux of veynez þan of arteriez.
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 27 (MED) This cronicle..schal be called Policronicon..In whiche werke y haue subdiuidede in to vij bookes.
?1483 W. Caxton in tr. Caton sig. iij The second partye whiche is in verse, is subdyuyded in to foure partyes.
1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. *.iij If you list, you may subdiuide the inches againe into 10. or 12. smaller partes, equall.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §104 If you diuide the Tones equally, the Eight is but Seuen whole and equall Notes; And if you Subdiuide that into Halfe Notes..it maketh the Number of thirteene.
1732 Philos. Trans. 1731–2 (Royal Soc.) 37 274 The Nonius Plate moves with the Index, and subdivides each of the small Divisions of the Arch into ten equal Parts or Minutes.
1734 G. Sale Preliminary Disc. iii. 58 in tr. Koran Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions of very unequal length also, which we customarily call verses.
1796 tr. J. G. Herder in Monthly Rev. 20 App. 512 Planudes gave a new form to the anthology of Kephalas. He omitted, he subdivided, he inserted at his pleasure.
1823 J. Lingard Hist. Eng. VI. 32 The army formed in two grand divisions, each of which was subdivided into a battle and two wings.
1868 J. E. T. Rogers Man. Polit. Econ. ii. 15 The use of machinery tends still further to subdivide labour.
1939 L. E. Hubbard Econ. Soviet Agric. xvii. 165 Each brigade was further subdivided into a number of detachments known as svena or links.
1951 G. R. de Beer Vertebr. Zool. (ed. 2) x. 119 The breast-bone or sternum is subdivided into six sections, called sternebrae.
1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. iii. 154 The diagram is subdivided into a number of areas called phase-fields.
b. transitive. Originally: to divide (land or territory) into smaller areas for the purpose of governance, cultivation, etc.; (later also) North American, Australian, and New Zealand to divide (tracts of land) into plots for the construction of houses (cf. subdivision n. 4, subdivider n. 1). Frequently with into.In quot. 1880 intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > divide [verb (transitive)] > subdivide > specific land
subdivide1584
canton1619
1584 H. Llwyd & D. Powel Hist. Cambria 6 Anglesey..had in it selfe three Cantreds or hundreds, which were subdiuided to sixe comots.
1640 in H. Bond Hist. Watertown, Mass. (1855) II. 998 Ordered that the hither Plain, being subdivided into several Lotts for Plow-ground, shall be made a common field.
1682 P. C. Chamberlayne Compend. Geographicum x. 38 Southern Germany about the Danube, is subdivided into nine parts besides several small divisions.
1757 J. Dalrymple Ess. Hist. Feudal Prop. 13 The Folkland was divided and subdivided into Counties,..Rideings, and Hundreds.
1846 T. C. Foster Lett. Condition People Irel. ix. 146 The people being left to themselves, subdivided their land till they could pay no rent, and at length it would not keep them.
1870 F. R. Wilson Archit. Surv. Churches Lindisfarne 23 They sub-divided their parish into five chapelries.
1880 Daily News 20 Dec. 5/6 To those who had already subdivided he offered new mountain farms.
1915 H. L. Gray Eng. Field Syst. 3 The term ‘field system’ signifies the manner in which the inhabitants of a township subdivided and tilled their arable, meadow, and pasture land.
1939 T. S. Holden in M. B. Schnapper Public Housing in Amer. 46 In recent decades, the profits of subdividing raw land have tended to diminish.
1984 G. Jones Hist. Vikings (rev. ed.) ii. 422 Yorkshire and the counties of the Five Boroughs were subdivided not into English hundreds but into wapentakes.
1988 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 28 Nov. (News & Features) 10 The prime four-square-kilometre hillside site..was subdivided for residential development in the 1920s.
2011 Morning Penins. Leader (Austral.) (Nexis) 3 May (News) 29 People have bought into that neighborhood..with the understanding that blocks in that region could not and would not be subdivided.
c. transitive. To divide or distribute (further) among(st), between, or to a number.
ΚΠ
1594 R. Ashley tr. L. le Roy Interchangeable Course iv. f. 56 Then such Lords as held the great fees of the kings, they subdiuided them to other persons, of whom they expected seruice.
1766 L. Sterne Serm. Mr. Yorick IV. xi. 151 Mankind led to dispose of these attributes inherent in the Godhead, and divide and subdivide them again amongst deities.
1827 Q. Rev. June 258 The college-tutors..have scarcely ever the power..to subdivide sufficiently amongst them the task of teaching.
1848 J. Pim Condition & Prospects Irel. iii. 57 The father looked upon his farm as a provision for his family, and subdivided it among his sons at his death.
1989 D. H. Fischer Albion's Seed 566 Many tracts were subdivided among ‘underpurchasers’ who actually occupied the land.
2003 Financial Times (Nexis) 25 June 18 [They] had subdivided the task of carting meat between them.
d. transitive. To divide (an area) into smaller sections by means of a physical partition; (in later use) esp. to split (a room) into two or more sections by means of a wall or screen. Frequently with into.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > divide [verb (transitive)] > into sections or compartments > by a partition
dissept1657
subdivide1726
to box off1815
cabin1815
partition1818
1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. i. ii. f. 2/2 The Compartition is that which subdivides the whole Platform of the House into smaller Platforms.
1764 T. Harmer Observ. Passages Script. ii. §12. 68 Speaking of the tents of the Arabs, the Journal says, They are subdivided into three apartments.
1799 A. Young Agric. Lincoln 57 Converting old bad pasturage into arable, by means of draining, subdividing, and quicking large fields.
1848 H. W. Haygarth Recoll. Bush Life 68 A cattle enclosure is usually subdivided into five yards: two of them facing the entrance are large, the three others are smaller.
1861 Cornhill Mag. Feb. 202 In the fore part of the ship there are no less than four vertical bulkheads..subdividing her exposed space into five water-tight compartments.
1912 A. J. Bledsoe Business Law for Business Men 374 No part of any room in any tenement house shall hereafter be enclosed or subdivided wholly or in part, by a curtain, portiere, fixed or movable partition.
1958 Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 7 Mar. 679/2 It is not a single room covering the entire space available, but has been subdivided into three.
2000 F. Keane Stranger's Eye 115 The scraggy fields were subdivided by low stone walls.
2004 H. Ward Jandl in Preserv. Hist. Archit. xviii. 187 If rooms have already been subdivided through an earlier insensitive renovation, consider removing the partitions.
2. transitive. To divide (something) into subordinate categories or classes; to subcategorize, subclassify.
ΚΠ
1566 J. Rastell Third Bk. beware of M. Iewel f. 218 Diuiding (as it were) al the Faithful, Into Sicke, and Excommunicate, And subdiuiding the Sicke, into them that were either in health, either in Sicknes.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. C3v These [sc. poets] be subdiuided into sundry more speciall denominations. The most notable bee the Heroick, Lirick, [etc.].
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. i. iii. iv. 53 Windy melancholy, which Laurentius subdivides into three parts,..Hepaticke, Splenaticke, Mesariacke.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ ii. xv. 32 They were the first that subdivided the foure cardinall winds to two and thirty.
1763 R. Brookes New Syst. Nat. Hist. II. ii. 399 Linnæus has but four general classes, which are again subdivided into a great many others.
1796 L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 2) 7 The semi-vowels may be subdivided into vocal and aspirated.
1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflammation 502 Attempts have..been made to subdivide the phenomena of mortification.
1861 R. Bentley Man. Bot. ii. i. 399 The Classes are again subdivided into sub-classes and other divisions.
1953 L. S. de Camp in Mod. Sci. Fiction 121 Imaginative fiction can in turn be subdivided into ‘fantasy’.., and ‘science fiction’.
2006 K. D. Rose Beginning Age Mammals xiv. 302/2 Ruminants can be subdivided into the primitive (and paraphyletic) Tragulina.., and the more advanced Pecora.
3. Chiefly with into.
a. intransitive. Of a group or groups of people: to divide into subsidiary groups; esp. to split into factions; to splinter.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > be in dissension or at variance [verb (intransitive)] > become disunited
breach1573
subdivide1581
splita1732
1581 R. Parsons Discouerie I. Nicols sig. Iiij Luthers schollers were quickly deuided into three sectes, that is, into Anabaptistes, Confessionistes, and Sacramentaries, and they againe sub-deuided into other sectes.
1597 F. Bacon Ess. f. 11v When one of the Factions is extinguished, the remaining subdiuideth.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 297 When Brutus and Cassius were ouerthrowne, then soone after Antonius and Octauianus brake and Subdiuided.
1682 J. Bunyan Holy War 171 They marched, they countermarched, they opened to the right and left, they divided, and subdivided . View more context for this quotation
1707 S. Grascome Schism Triumphant 36 Though you should divide and subdivide into a thousand Parties, yet while your Faces seem to look several Ways, you are all like Samson's Foxes ty'd together by the Tails.
1709 W. Reeves tr. Justin Martyr et al. Apol. II. v. 240 How they [sc. Donatists] subdivided into Factions, and into what Extravagances they ran at length.
1860 Dublin Rev. May 168 It is in the constitution of the Italian character to divide and subdivide, to split up into factions.
1877 A. F. Bandelier On Art of War & Mode Warfare Anc. Mexicans ii. 392 Moving to Gumarcaab or Utlatlan, there they [sc. the Toltecs] subdivided into twenty-four ‘great houses’.
1906 F. H. Giddings Readings in Descriptive & Hist. Sociol. iii. i. 498 Hordes combined to form tribes, but at the same time they subdivided into Punaluan or other polyandrian families.
1994 C. Escobar in L. Roniger & A. Güneş-Ayata Democracy, Clientism, & Civil Soc. v. 74 The internal political crisis.., which resembled that of the leftist parties in the country, forced the [peasant] organization to divide and subdivide.
b. transitive (reflexive). Of a group or groups of people: to divide into subsidiary groups or factions.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > divide [verb (reflexive)] > subdivide
subdivide1643
1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §8 Heads that are disposed unto Schism..knit but loosely among themselves, nor contented with a general breach or dichotomy with their Church, do subdivide and mince themselves almost into Atoms. View more context for this quotation
1709 Royal Proclam. 27 Jan. The Commissioners..shall subdivide themselves,..so as three, at least, may be appointed for the Service of each Division.
1756 C. Lennox tr. P. M. de L'Écluse des Loges Mem. Maximilian de Bethune II. xiv. 179 The Scotch faction had subdivided itself into two.
1807 Syst. Geogr. IV. 207 The Burghers have lately subdivided themselves into two sects, vulgarly called the Old Light Burghers, and New Light Burghers.
1851 Blackwood's Mag. Sept. 352/2 It is the..constant dissensions of these two sets of men, and of the minor fractions into which they have subdivided themselves, that have kept Portugal for seventeen years in a state of anarchy.
1915 E. P. Cubberley Portland Surv. 11 [The School Directors] not only meet as a body, but have also subdivided themselves into eight committees for further work.
2005 D. C. Conrad Empires Medieval W. Afr. Introd. 14 The Sanhaja..were desert people who, like their North African relatives, subdivided themselves into large clans.
4. intransitive. Chiefly Anatomy and Zoology. To undergo further division; to split into smaller or subsidiary parts; spec. to form smaller or subsidiary branches (cf. ramify v. 3a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > inclination > divergence > diverge [verb (intransitive)] > ramify or branch
twist1340
branch1398
ramify1576
derivea1612
sprig1658
divaricate1672
subdivide1681
ramificate1780
spray1872
divide1878
1681 J. Scott Christian Life: Pt. I iv. 456 Schism is a large Labyrinth, that naturally divides and subdivides into infinite Paths and Allies, wherein a man may wander to Eternity.
1688 E. Bohun Geogr. Dict. at Vistula At Marienwerder [the Vistula] divides into two Branches, the Eastern passeth by Margenburgh,..and the Western subdivides into two other Branches.
1767 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 57 14 This vein subdivides, and ramifies itself through the kidney-liver, the muscles and the spine; but none of its branches communicates with the aorta.
1770 Philos. Trans. 1769 (Royal Soc.) 59 200 From this part upwards those vessels divide and sub-divide.
1831 R. Knox tr. H. Cloquet Syst. Human Anat. (ed. 2) 33 These laminæ subdivide into radiated fibrils.
1867 Intellect. Observer Aug. 2 The Milky Way again subdivides, a branch running off at an angle of 20°, and losing itself in a narrow streamlet.
1883 D. MacAlister tr. E. Zeigler 1st Pt. Text-bk. Pathol. Anat. & Pathogenesis xviii. 115 The question whether or not the white blood-cells subdivide is as yet unsettled.
1904 Science 11 Nov. 650/2 Protozoa do not die a natural death... They subdivide and we have two protozoa.
1998 L. Margulis & K. V. Schwartz Five Kingdoms (ed. 3) iii. 221/2 The cubomedusan planula gives rise to a polyp; the polyp subdivides into additional polyps.
2009 C. Rimmerman Cleveland Clinic Guide to Heart Attacks iii. 59 Major arteries go through a number of branchings and..these branches subdivide within the heart tissue.
5. intransitive. To admit of being divided further, or of being split into subsidiary categories, sections, or parts (cf. sense 2); (also) to consist of or fall into these (cf. note at sense 1a).
ΚΠ
1778 E. M. da Costa Brit. Conchol. 120/1 Family of Buccina, Wilks or Whelks... This family subdivides into six genera.
1849 E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom (new ed.) 39 The cranium subdivides into three portions: the anterior is formed by the two frontal and the ethmoidal bones.
1860 Future 1 July 62/1 In very natural scale there will be twelve great divisions, and each of these will subdivide into twelve elements.
1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. 243 Every string sub-divides, yielding not one note, but a dozen.
1962 J. K. Feibleman Found. Empiricism iii. ix. 168 Essence subdivides into a realm of essence and its universals, and its universals subdivide into universals and values (or qualities).
1999 S. Broughton et al. World Music: Rough Guide I. i. 213/2 Slåttar subdivide into two-beat dances.., and three-beat.
2005 Wall St. Jrnl. 18 Mar. (Central ed.) w13K (advt.) Over 1,200 contiguous acres of rolling pastures... Several building lots cleared and perked. Will subdivide.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1857
v.?a1425