Edit page | Page history | Printable version

parting

1. Serving to part; dividing; separating.

2. Given when departing; as, a parting shot; a parting salute. Give him that parting kiss.

3. Departing. Speed the parting guest.

4. Admitting of being parted; partible. Parting fellow, a partner. Parting pulley. See Pulley. Parting sand, a thin tool, used in turning or planing, for cutting a piece in two.

Origin: From Part.

1. The act of parting or dividing; the state of being parted; division; separation. The parting of the way.

2. A separation; a leave-taking. And there were sudden partings, such as press The life from out young hearts. (Byron)

3. A surface or line of separation where a division occurs.

4. The surface of the sand of one section of a mold where it meets that of another section.

5. (Science: chemistry) The separation and determination of alloys; especially, the separation, as by acids, of gold from silver in the assay button.

6. (Science: geology) A joint or fissure, as in a coal seam.

7. The breaking, as of a cable, by violence.

8. (Science: chemical) lamellar separation in a crystallized mineral, due to some other cause than cleavage, as to the presence of twinning lamellae.