[syn: segment, section]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Section \Sec"tion\, n. [L. sectio, fr. secare, sectum, to cut;
akin to E. saw a cutting instrument: cf. F. section. See
Saw, and cf. Scion, Dissect, Insect, Secant,
Segment.]
1. The act of cutting, or separation by cutting; as, the
section of bodies.
[1913 Webster]
2. A part separated from something; a division; a portion; a
slice. Specifically:
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(a) A distinct part or portion of a book or writing; a
subdivision of a chapter; the division of a law or
other writing; a paragraph; an article; hence, the
character [sect], often used to denote such a
division.
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It is hardly possible to give a distinct view of
his several arguments in distinct sections.
--Locke.
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(b) A distinct part of a country or people, community,
class, or the like; a part of a territory separated by
geographical lines, or of a people considered as
distinct.
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The extreme section of one class consists of
bigoted dotards, the extreme section of the
other consists of shallow and reckless empirics.
--Macaulay.
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(c) One of the portions, of one square mile each, into
which the public lands of the United States are
divided; one thirty-sixth part of a township. These
sections are subdivided into quarter sections for sale
under the homestead and preemption laws.
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3. (Geom.) The figure made up of all the points common to a
superficies and a solid which meet, or to two superficies
which meet, or to two lines which meet. In the first case
the section is a superficies, in the second a line, and in
the third a point.
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4. (Nat. Hist.) A division of a genus; a group of species
separated by some distinction from others of the same
genus; -- often indicated by the sign [sect].
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5. (Mus.) A part of a musical period, composed of one or more
phrases. See Phrase.
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6. The description or representation of anything as it would
appear if cut through by any intersecting plane; depiction
of what is beyond a plane passing through, or supposed to
pass through, an object, as a building, a machine, a
succession of strata; profile.
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Note: In mechanical drawing, as in these Illustrations of a
cannon, a longitudinal section (a) usually represents
the object as cut through its center lengthwise and
vertically; a cross or transverse section (b), as cut
crosswise and vertically; and a horizontal section (c),
as cut through its center horizontally. Oblique
sections are made at various angles. In architecture, a
vertical section is a drawing showing the interior, the
thickness of the walls, etc., as if made on a vertical
plane passed through a building.
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Angular sections (Math.), a branch of analysis which treats
of the relations of sines, tangents, etc., of arcs to the
sines, tangents, etc., of their multiples or of their
parts. [R.]
Conic sections. (Geom.) See under Conic.
Section liner (Drawing), an instrument to aid in drawing a
series of equidistant parallel lines, -- used in
representing sections.
Thin section, a section or slice, as of mineral, animal, or
vegetable substance, thin enough to be transparent, and
used for study under the microscope.
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Syn: Part; portion; division.
Usage: Section, Part. The English more commonly apply the
word section to a part or portion of a body of men;
as, a section of the clergy, a small section of the
Whigs, etc. In the United States this use is less
common, but another use, unknown or but little known
in England, is very frequent, as in the phrases "the
eastern section of our country," etc., the same sense
being also given to the adjective sectional; as,
sectional feelings, interests, etc.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
section
n 1: a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or
musical); "he always turns first to the business section";
"the history of this work is discussed in the next section"
[syn: section, subdivision]
2: a very thin slice (of tissue or mineral or other substance)
for examination under a microscope; "sections from the left
ventricle showed diseased tissue"
3: a distinct region or subdivision of a territorial or
political area or community or group of people; "no section
of the nation is more ardent than the South"; "there are
three synagogues in the Jewish section"
4: one of several parts or pieces that fit with others to
constitute a whole object; "a section of a fishing rod";
"metal sections were used below ground"; "finished the final
segment of the road" [syn: section, segment]
5: a small team of policemen working as part of a police platoon
6: one of the portions into which something is regarded as
divided and which together constitute a whole; "the written
part of the exam"; "the finance section of the company"; "the
BBC's engineering division" [syn: part, section,
division]
7: a land unit equal to 1 square mile
8: (geometry) the area created by a plane cutting through a
solid [syn: section, plane section]
9: a small class of students who are part of a larger course but
are taught separately; "a graduate student taught sections
for the professor's lecture course" [syn: section,
discussion section]
10: a division of an orchestra containing all instruments of the
same class
11: a small army unit usually having a special function
12: a specialized division of a large organization; "you'll find
it in the hardware department"; "she got a job in the
historical section of the Treasury" [syn: department,
section]
13: a segment of a citrus fruit; "he ate a section of the
orange"
14: the cutting of or into body tissues or organs (especially by
a surgeon as part of an operation) [syn: incision,
section, surgical incision]
v 1: divide into segments; "segment an orange"; "segment a
compound word" [syn: segment, section]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
299 Moby Thesaurus words for "section":
KP, abscission, adjunct, airspace, allocate, allot, amputation,
anacrusis, anastomotic operation, apportion, area, army,
army group, article, back matter, bass passage, battalion, battery,
battle group, belt, biotype, block, blood, bloodless operation,
book, bourdon, bracket, branch, break up, bridge, brigade, burden,
butchering, cadence, cadre, capital operation, caste, category,
chapter, chopping, chorus, clan, class, clause, cleavage, cleave,
clos, close, coda, cohort, column, combat command, combat team,
company, compensating operation, component, confines,
continental shelf, contingent, corneal transplant, corps, corridor,
country, crescent operation, croft, cross section, cut, cut up,
cutting, department, detachment, detail, development, dichotomy,
district, divide, divide up, division, divvy, divvy up, dole,
elective operation, element, emergency operation, enclave,
enucleation, environs, estate, excision, exploratory operation,
exposition, family, fascicle, fenestration operation, field,
field army, field train, figure, file, fission, flying column,
folderol, folio, forty, fraction, front matter, garrison,
gathering, genotype, genus, grade, ground, group, grouping,
harmonic close, head, heading, heart transplant, heartland,
hinterland, installment, interlude, intermezzo, interval operation,
introductory phrase, item, kidney transplant, kin, kingdom,
kitchen police, kraal, label, laceration, land, leg, legion, level,
livraison, locality, lot, major operation, maniple, measure,
measure out, member, milieu, minor operation, moiety, movement,
musical phrase, musical sentence, mutilation, neighborhood, number,
offshore rights, operation, order, organ transplant,
organ transplantation, organization, ornament, outfit, page, pale,
palliative operation, paragraph, parcel, parcel of land,
parcel out, part, particular, partition, parts, passage, patch,
percentage, period, phalanx, phrase, phylum, piece, pigeonhole,
place, plat, platoon, plot, plot of ground, portion, position,
posse, precinct, precincts, predicament, premises, purlieus, quad,
quadrangle, quadrant, quarter, quota, race, radical operation,
random sample, rank, rating, real estate, refrain, regiment,
region, remainder, removal, rending, resection, resolution,
response, ripping, ritornello, rubric, salient, sample, sampling,
scission, sector, segment, sentence, separate, sept, serial,
series, set, severance, share, sheet, signature, slashing, slice,
slicing, soil, space, species, sphere, split, split up, splitting,
squad, squadron, square, stage, stanza, statement, station, status,
strain, stratum, subclass, subdivide, subdivision, subfamily,
subgenus, subgroup, subkingdom, suborder, subspecies, subtribe,
superclass, superfamily, superorder, superspecies, surgery,
surgical intervention, surgical operation, surgical technique,
tactical unit, tailpiece, task force, tearing, terrain, territory,
text, the knife, three-mile limit, title, tract, train, transplant,
tribe, troop, tutti, tutti passage, twelve-mile limit, unit,
variation, variety, verse, vicinage, vicinity, volume, wing,
zone
U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):
Section, AL -- U.S. town in Alabama
Population (2000): 769
Housing Units (2000): 352
Land area (2000): 4.581287 sq. miles (11.865478 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 4.581287 sq. miles (11.865478 sq. km)
FIPS code: 69000
Located within: Alabama (AL), FIPS 01
Location: 34.578155 N, 85.988114 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 35771
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Section, AL
Section