The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Branch \Branch\, v. t.
   1. To divide as into branches; to make subordinate division
      in.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To adorn with needlework representing branches, flowers,
      or twigs.
      [1913 Webster]

            The train whereof loose far behind her strayed,
            Branched with gold and pearl, most richly wrought.
                                                  --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Branch \Branch\, n.; pl. Branches. [OE. braunche, F. branche,
   fr. LL. branca claw of a bird or beast of prey; cf. Armor.
   brank branch, bough.]
   1. (Bot.) A shoot or secondary stem growing from the main
      stem, or from a principal limb or bough of a tree or other
      plant.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Any division extending like a branch; any arm or part
      connected with the main body of thing; ramification; as,
      the branch of an antler; the branch of a chandelier; a
      branch of a river; a branch of a railway.
      [1913 Webster]

            Most of the branches, or streams, were dried up.
                                                  --W. Irving.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Any member or part of a body or system; a distinct
      article; a section or subdivision; a department. "Branches
      of knowledge." --Prescott.
      [1913 Webster]

            It is a branch and parcel of mine oath. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Geom.) One of the portions of a curve that extends
      outwards to an indefinitely great distance; as, the
      branches of an hyperbola.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A line of family descent, in distinction from some other
      line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such
      a line; as, the English branch of a family.
      [1913 Webster]

            His father, a younger branch of the ancient stock.
                                                  --Carew.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. (Naut.) A warrant or commission given to a pilot,
      authorizing him to pilot vessels in certain waters.
      [1913 Webster]

   Branches of a bridle, two pieces of bent iron, which bear
      the bit, the cross chains, and the curb.

   Branch herring. See Alewife.

   Root and branch, totally, wholly.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Bough; limb; shoot; offshoot; twig; sprig.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Branch \Branch\, a.
   Diverging from, or tributary to, a main stock, line, way,
   theme, etc.; as, a branch vein; a branch road or line; a
   branch topic; a branch store.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Branch \Branch\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Branched; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Branching.]
   1. To shoot or spread in branches; to separate into branches;
      to ramify.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To divide into separate parts or subdivision.
      [1913 Webster]

   To branch off, to form a branch or a separate part; to
      diverge.

   To branch out, to speak diffusively; to extend one's
      discourse to other topics than the main one; also, to
      enlarge the scope of one's business, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

            To branch out into a long disputation. --Spectator.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

branch
    n 1: a division of some larger or more complex organization; "a
         branch of Congress"; "botany is a branch of biology"; "the
         Germanic branch of Indo-European languages" [syn: branch,
         subdivision, arm]
    2: a division of a stem, or secondary stem arising from the main
       stem of a plant
    3: a part of a forked or branching shape; "he broke off one of
       the branches" [syn: branch, leg, ramification]
    4: a natural consequence of development [syn: outgrowth,
       branch, offshoot, offset]
    5: a stream or river connected to a larger one
    6: any projection that is thought to resemble a human arm; "the
       arm of the record player"; "an arm of the sea"; "a branch of
       the sewer" [syn: arm, branch, limb]
    v 1: grow and send out branches or branch-like structures;
         "these plants ramify early and get to be very large" [syn:
         ramify, branch]
    2: divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork; "The
       road forks" [syn: branch, ramify, fork, furcate,
       separate]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

351 Moby Thesaurus words for "branch":
   L, V, adolescent stream, affiliate, affiliation, affluent, angle,
   angle off, apparentation, appendage, arm, arroyo, bayou, bear off,
   beck, bend, bifurcate, billabong, bine, biotype, birth, bisect,
   blood, bloodline, body, booking office, bough, bourn, box office,
   bracket, braided stream, branch off, branch office, branch out,
   branchedness, branchiness, breed, brook, brooklet, burgeon, burn,
   by two, cabinet, cable railway, caste, category, chambers,
   chancellery, chancery, change the bearing, channel, chapter,
   church, clan, class, cleave, closet, cog railway, common ancestry,
   communion, community, confluent, confluent stream, consanguinity,
   consulate, corporate headquarters, crank, creek, crick, crook,
   crotch, crutch, curve, cut in two, deadwood, delta, den,
   dendritic drainage pattern, denomination, depart from, department,
   deploy, derivation, descent, detour, deviate, dichotomize, digress,
   dimidiate, direct line, disperse, distaff side, divagate,
   divaricate, diverge, diversify, divide, division, effluent, el,
   elbow, electric railway, elevated, elevated railway, embankment,
   embassy, estate, executive office, expand, extend, extraction,
   faction, family, fan, fan out, feeder, feeder line, fellowship,
   female line, filiation, fission, flagellum, flare, flowing stream,
   fluviation, fork, fresh, freshet, frond, furcate, furcula,
   furculum, genotype, genus, gill, grade, gravity-operated railway,
   groin, group, grouping, halve, hand, head, heading, headquarters,
   heel, home office, hook, horse railway, house, imp, in half,
   inguen, joint, junction, kill, kin, kingdom, label, lazy stream,
   leg, legation, level, light railroad, limb, line, line of descent,
   lineage, link, lobe, lobule, local, lodge, main line, main office,
   male line, meandering stream, member, metro, midchannel, midstream,
   millstream, monorail, moving road, navigable river, office, offset,
   offshoot, open, open up, order, organ, organization, outspread,
   outstretch, overgrow, overrun, part, party, persuasion, phylum,
   pigeonhole, pinion, position, post, predicament, prong, race,
   racing stream, rack railway, rack-and-pinion railway, rail,
   rail line, railroad, railway, ramage, ramification, ramify, rank,
   rating, religious order, river, rivulet, roadbed, roadway, rubric,
   run, rundle, runlet, runnel, runner, sarment, schism, school,
   scion, sect, sectarism, section, seed, segment, sept, series,
   service, set, sheer, shift, shoot, shop, side, sidetrack, siding,
   sike, slip, society, spear, spear side, species, spill stream,
   spin-off, spindle side, splay, split in two, spraddle, sprangle,
   sprawl, spray, spread, spread like wildfire, spread out, sprig,
   sprit, sprout, spur, station, status, stem, stirps, stock, stolon,
   strain, stratum, stream, stream action, streamlet, street railway,
   streetcar line, study, subclass, subdivide, subdivision, subfamily,
   subgenus, subgroup, subkingdom, suborder, subsidiary, subspecies,
   subterranean river, subtribe, subway, succession, sucker,
   superclass, superfamily, superorder, superspecies, swerve, switch,
   switchback, sword side, tack, tail, tendril, terminal, terminus,
   thallus, ticket office, title, track, tram, tramline, transect,
   trend, trestle, tribe, tributary, trident, trifurcate,
   trolley line, trunk, trunk line, tube, turn, turn aside, turnout,
   twig, underground, unfold, variety, vary, veer, version, wadi,
   watercourse, waterway, widen, wing, wishbone, zag, zig, zigzag



The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

branch

   1.  An edge in a tree.

   2.  A jump.


Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Branch
   a symbol of kings descended from royal ancestors (Ezek. 17:3,
   10; Dan. 11:7); of prosperity (Job 8:16); of the Messiah, a
   branch out of the root of the stem of Jesse (Isa. 11:1), the
   "beautiful branch" (4:2), a "righteous branch" (Jer. 23:5), "the
   Branch" (Zech. 3:8; 6:12).

     Disciples are branches of the true vine (John 15:5, 6). "The
   branch of the terrible ones" (Isa. 25:5) is rightly translated
   in the Revised Version "the song of the terrible ones," i.e.,
   the song of victory shall be brought low by the destruction of
   Babylon and the return of the Jews from captivity.

     The "abominable branch" is a tree on which a malefactor has
   been hanged (Isa. 14:19). The "highest branch" in Ezek. 17:3
   represents Jehoiakim the king.


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

BRANCH. This is a metaphorical expression, which designates, in the
genealogy of a numerous family, a portion of that family which has sprang
from the same root or stock; these latter expressions, like the first, are
also metaphorical.
     2. The whole of a genealogy is often called the genealogical tree; and
sometimes it is made to take the form of a tree, which is in the first place
divided into as many branches as there are children, afterwards into as many
branches as there are grand-children, then of great grandchildren, &c. If,
for example, it be desired to have a genealogical tree of Peter's family,
Peter will be made the trunk of the tree; if he has had two children, John
and James, their names will be written on the first two branches; which will
themselves shoot out as many smaller branches as John and James have
children; from these other's proceed, till the whole family is represented
on the tree; thus the origin, the application, and the use of the word
branch in genealogy will be at once perceived.



U.S. Gazetteer Counties (2000):

Branch -- U.S. County in Michigan
   Population (2000):    45787
   Housing Units (2000): 19822
   Land area (2000):     507.412060 sq. miles (1314.191146 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    12.078135 sq. miles (31.282225 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    519.490195 sq. miles (1345.473371 sq. km)
   Located within:       Michigan (MI), FIPS 26
   Location:             41.926246 N, 85.051147 W
   Headwords:
    Branch
    Branch, MI
    Branch County
    Branch County, MI


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Branch, AR -- U.S. city in Arkansas
   Population (2000):    357
   Housing Units (2000): 155
   Land area (2000):     3.565727 sq. miles (9.235191 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.001730 sq. miles (0.004480 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    3.567457 sq. miles (9.239671 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            08440
   Located within:       Arkansas (AR), FIPS 05
   Location:             35.308482 N, 93.955690 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     72928
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Branch, AR
    Branch