split

A crack or longitudinal fissure.

Adjective

  1. Divided.
    • Republicans appear split on the centerpiece of Mr. Obama's economic recovery plan.
    • With the descent of the cold war, relations between the two countries (for this is, to all intents and purposes, what they became after the end of the war) were almost completely broken off, with whole families split...
  2. Having the middle object (group, module, etc.) equal to the direct sum of the others.
  3. Comprising half decaffeinated and half caffeinated espresso.
  4. Divided so as to be done or executed part at one time or price and part at another time or price.
  5. Given in sixteenths rather than eighths.
    • 10+³⁄₁₆ is a split quotation.
  6. Designating ordinary stock that has been divided into preferred ordinary and deferred ordinary.

Origin

Attested since about 1567, from Middle Dutch splitten (“to split”) and/or Middle Low German splitten (“to split”), both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *splittjan, an intensive form of Proto-West Germanic *splītan (“to split”), from Proto-Germanic *splītaną (whence Danish splitte, Low German splieten, German spleißen), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley- (“to split, splice”). Compare Middle English ysplett (“split”, past participle of splatten (“to split”)), Old English speld (“splinter”), Old High German spaltan (“to split”), Middle Irish slis (“splinter”), Lithuanian spaliai (“flax sheaves”), Czech půl (“half”), Old Church Slavonic рас-плитати (ras-plitati, “to cleave, split”).

Synonyms

cleft cloven divided split sundered

Antonyms

manifold

Hyponyms

bisected thirded tripartite trisected quadrisected quadripartite quartered quinquepartite quinquesected

Related

divide divisible separate separation

Noun

  1. A crack or longitudinal fissure.
  2. A breach or separation, as in a political party; a division.
  3. A piece that is split off, or made thin, by splitting; a splinter; a fragment.
    • The kernels split in shelling, known as splits, form a fifth grade of shelled Virginia peanuts. - 1929, United States Tariff Commission, Agricultural products and provisions, page 1334:
  4. One of the sections of a skin made by dividing it into two or more thicknesses.
  5. A maneuver of spreading or sliding the feet apart until the legs are flat on the floor 180 degrees apart, either sideways to the body or with one leg in front and one behind, thus lowering the body completely to the floor in an upright position.
  6. A workout routine as seen by its distribution of muscle groups or the extent and manner they are targeted in a microcycle.
  7. A split-finger fastball.
    • He’s got a nasty split.
  8. A result of a first throw that leaves two or more pins standing with one or more pins between them knocked down.
  9. A split shot or split stroke.
  10. A dessert or confection resembling a banana split.
  11. A unit of measure used for champagne or other spirits: 18.75 centiliters or one quarter of a standard 75-centiliter bottle. Commercially comparable to ¹⁄₂₀ (US) gallon, which is ¹⁄₂ of a fifth.
  12. A bottle of wine containing 37.5 centiliters, half the volume of a standard 75-centiliter bottle; a demi.

Forms

splits

Derived

7-10 split almost split sequence backsplit bad-lad split banana split box split Bulgarian split squat circuit split defence-splitting Devonshire split earsplitting fee splitting foot-strut split get one's wig split hairsplit hair-splittery hair-splitting heart-splitting Heegaard splitting high-low split hypersplit let the door hit you where the good Lord split you lickety-split lot-cloth split

Verb

  1. To divide fully or partly along a more or less straight line.
    • He has split his lip.
    • a huge vessel of exceeding hard marble split asunder by congealed water - 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects […], Oxford,...
    • The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom. This system splits water molecules and delivers some of their electrons to other...

    Synonyms: cleave

  2. Of something solid, particularly wood, to break along the grain fully or partly along a more or less straight line.
  3. To share; to divide.
    • We split the money among three people.
    • Presently the 57-strong Class 378 fleet is split between the East London line and North London line, with 29 units allocated on the east side. - 2019 October, “Funding for 20tph East London Line service”, in Modern...
  4. To leave.
    • Let's split this scene and see if we can find a real party.
    • Carlo and Carmen Vidal / just had a child / A lovely girl with a crooked smile / Now they gotta split 'cause the Bronx ain't fit / For a kid to grow up in - 1979, Machine, “There but For the Grace of God Go I”, in...
    • I had this Palm Springs gig set up for Joey and the bitch split. Least he ain't nowhere around. - 1980, Paul Schrader, American Gigolo, spoken by Leon (Bill Duke):

    Synonyms: beat it bug off remove bugger off book bounce buzz off chuck cut one's stick dash depart duck out exit get away get out go go away go out GTFO leave make tracks move on namous part

  5. To separate.
    • Did you hear Dick and Jane split? They'll probably get a divorce.

    Synonyms: break up split up

  6. To (cause to) break up; to throw into discord.
    • Accusations of bribery split the party just before the election.
  7. To factor into linear factors.
    • In the first case X²-2, the minimum polynomial of #92;sqrt 2, splits completely over #92;Q(#92;sqrt 2); in the second case we see that X³-2, the minimum polynomial of 3#92;sqrt 2, does not split completely over...

    1. (generally, of an algebraic structure) To be expressable as a direct sum of sub-modules, -algebras, etc.

    2. (of an object which expresses the relationship between algebraic structures, particularly a short exact sequence) To contain an object which may be so expressed.

  8. To be broken; to be dashed to pieces.
    • The ship splits on the rock. - c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  9. To burst out laughing.
  10. To divulge a secret; to betray confidence; to peach.
    • "[…]I split, and tell all […]" - 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850,...
  11. For both teams involved in a doubleheader to win one game each and lose another.
    • Boston split with Philadelphia in a doubleheader, winning the first game 3-1 before losing 2-0 in the nightcap.
  12. To vote for candidates of opposite parties.

Forms

splits splitting split