part
UK /pɑːt/ · US /pɑɹt/ noun, verb, adjective, adverb
- noun A fraction of a whole. “Gaul is divided into three parts.”
- noun A distinct element of something larger. “The parts of a chainsaw include the chain, engine, and handle.”
- noun A group inside a larger group.
- noun Share, especially of a profit. “I want my part of the bounty.”
- noun A unit of relative proportion in a mixture. “The mixture comprises one part sodium hydroxide and ten parts water.”
- noun 3.5 centiliters of one ingredient in a mixed drink.
- noun A section of a document. “Please turn to Part I, Chapter 2.”
- noun A section of land; an area of a country or other territory; region.
- verb (intransitive) To leave the company of (each other, or someone/something [with with or from]).
- verb (transitive) To divide in two. “to part the curtains”
- verb (transitive) To cut hair with a parting.
- verb (intransitive) To be divided in two or separated. “A rope parts. His hair parts in the middle.”
- verb (transitive, now rare) To divide up; to share.
- verb (intransitive, obsolete) To have a part or share; to partake.
- verb (transitive) To separate or disunite; to remove from contact or contiguity; to sunder.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To hold apart; to stand or intervene between.
- adjective Fractional; partial. “Fred was part owner of the car.”
- adverb Partly; partially; fractionally. “Part finished”
- adverb (with reference to a person's ethnicity) to a partial degree. “My Native American friend is also part German and part French.”
Synonyms
piece portion component element faction party hand position role parting shed shoad shode chelek component part constituent region function office character theatrical role persona share percentage section division voice contribution separate split
Etymology
From Middle English part, from Old English part (“part”) and Old French part (“part”); both from Latin partem, accusative of pars (“piece, portion, share, side, party, faction, role, character, lot, fate, task, lesson, part, member”), from Proto-Indo-European *par-, *per- (“to sell, exchange”). Akin to Latin portiō (“a portion, part”), parāre (“to make ready, prepare”). Displaced Middle English del, dele (“part”) (from Old English dǣl (“part, distribution”) > Modern English deal (“portion; amount”)), Middle English dale, dole (“part, portion”) (from Old English dāl (“portion”) > Modern English dole), Middle English sliver (“part, portion”) (from Middle English sliven (“to cut, cleave”), from Old English (tō)slifan (“to split”)).
Inherited from Middle English parten, borrowed from Old French partir.
From Middle English part, from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One of the portions, equal or unequal, into which anything is divided, or regarded as divided; something less than a whole; a number, quantity, mass, or the like, regarded as going to make up, with others, a larger number, quantity, mass, etc., whether actually separate or not; a piece; a fragment; a fraction; a division; a member; a constituent.
- noun Hence, specifically: (a) An equal constituent portion; one of several or many like quantities, numbers, etc., into which anything is divided, or of which it is composed; proportional division or ingredient.
- verb To divide; to separate into distinct parts; to break into two or more parts or pieces; to sever. "Thou shalt part it in pieces." Lev.
- verb To divide into shares; to divide and distribute; to allot; to apportion; to share.
Etymology [F. part, L. pars, gen. partis; cf. parere to bring forth, produce. Cf. Parent, Depart, Parcel, Partner, Party, Portion.]
Etymology [F. partir, L. partire, partiri, p. p. partitus, fr. pars, gen. partis, a part. See Part, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “part”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details