D defs.my
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Entry 6 senses Webster, 1913

Department

/dĭp-är'-tmənt/ · De·part·ment · IPA /dɪˈpɑɹtmənt/
01 n. Act of departing; departure.
  1. 1.
    Act of departing; departure.[Obs.]
    “Sudden departments from one extreme to another.” — Wotton.
  2. 2.
    A part, portion, or subdivision.
  3. 3.
    A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province.
    “Superior to Pope in Pope's own peculiar department of literature.” — Macaulay.
  4. 4.
    Subdivision of business or official duty; especially, one of the principal divisions of executive government; as, the treasury department; the war department; also, in a university, one of the divisions of instruction; as, the medical department; the department of physics.
  5. 5.
    A territorial division; a district; esp., in France, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes; as, the Department of the Loire.
  6. 6.
    A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac.