Section

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Section \Sec"tion\, n. [L. sectio, fr. secare, sectum, to cut;
     akin to E. saw a cutting instrument: cf. F. section. See
     {Saw}, and cf. {Scion}, {Dissect}, {Insect}, {Secant},
     {Segment}.]
     1. The act of cutting, or separation by cutting; as, the
        section of bodies.


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     2. A part separated from something; a division; a portion; a
        slice. Specifically: 
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        (a) A distinct part or portion of a book or writing; a
            subdivision of a chapter; the division of a law or
            other writing; a paragraph; an article; hence, the
            character [sect], often used to denote such a
            division.
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                  It is hardly possible to give a distinct view of
                  his several arguments in distinct sections.
                                                    --Locke.
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        (b) A distinct part of a country or people, community,
            class, or the like; a part of a territory separated by
            geographical lines, or of a people considered as
            distinct.
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                  The extreme section of one class consists of
                  bigoted dotards, the extreme section of the
                  other consists of shallow and reckless empirics.
                                                    --Macaulay.
            [1913 Webster]
        (c) One of the portions, of one square mile each, into
            which the public lands of the United States are
            divided; one thirty-sixth part of a township. These
            sections are subdivided into quarter sections for sale
            under the homestead and preemption laws.
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     3. (Geom.) The figure made up of all the points common to a
        superficies and a solid which meet, or to two superficies
        which meet, or to two lines which meet. In the first case
        the section is a superficies, in the second a line, and in
        the third a point.
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     4. (Nat. Hist.) A division of a genus; a group of species
        separated by some distinction from others of the same
        genus; -- often indicated by the sign [sect].
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     5. (Mus.) A part of a musical period, composed of one or more
        phrases. See {Phrase}.
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     6. The description or representation of anything as it would
        appear if cut through by any intersecting plane; depiction
        of what is beyond a plane passing through, or supposed to
        pass through, an object, as a building, a machine, a
        succession of strata; profile.
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     Note: In mechanical drawing, as in these Illustrations of a
           cannon, a longitudinal section (a) usually represents
           the object as cut through its center lengthwise and
           vertically; a cross or transverse section (b), as cut
           crosswise and vertically; and a horizontal section (c),
           as cut through its center horizontally. Oblique
           sections are made at various angles. In architecture, a
           vertical section is a drawing showing the interior, the
           thickness of the walls, etc., as if made on a vertical
           plane passed through a building.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Angular sections} (Math.), a branch of analysis which treats
        of the relations of sines, tangents, etc., of arcs to the
        sines, tangents, etc., of their multiples or of their
        parts. [R.]
  
     {Conic sections}. (Geom.) See under {Conic}.
  
     {Section liner} (Drawing), an instrument to aid in drawing a
        series of equidistant parallel lines, -- used in
        representing sections.
  
     {Thin section}, a section or slice, as of mineral, animal, or
        vegetable substance, thin enough to be transparent, and
        used for study under the microscope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Part; portion; division.
  
     Usage: {Section}, {Part}. The English more commonly apply the
            word section to a part or portion of a body of men;
            as, a section of the clergy, a small section of the
            Whigs, etc. In the United States this use is less
            common, but another use, unknown or but little known
            in England, is very frequent, as in the phrases "the
            eastern section of our country," etc., the same sense
            being also given to the adjective sectional; as,
            sectional feelings, interests, etc.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  section
       n 1: a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or
            musical); "he always turns first to the business
            section"; "the history of this work is discussed in the
            next section" [syn: {subdivision}]
       2: a very thin slice (of tissue or mineral or other substance)
          for examination under a microscope; "sections from the
          left ventricle showed diseased tissue"
       3: a distinct region or subdivision of a territorial or
          political area or community or group of people; "no
          section of the nation is more ardent than the South";
          "there are three synagogues in the Jewish section"
       4: one of several parts or pieces that fit with others to
          constitute a whole object; "a section of a fishing rod";
          "metal sections were used below ground"; "finished the
          final segment of the road" [syn: {segment}]
       5: a small team of policemen working as part of a police
          platoon
       6: one of the portions into which something is regarded as
          divided and which together constitute a whole; "the
          written part of the exam"; "the finance section of the
          company"; "the BBC's engineering division" [syn: {part}, {division}]
       7: a land unit of 1 square mile measuring 1 mile on a side
       8: (geometry) the area created by a plane cutting through a
          solid [syn: {plane section}]
       9: a division of an orchestra containing all instruments of the
          same class
       10: a small army unit usually having a special function
       11: a specialized division of a large organization; "you'll find
           it in the hardware department"; "she got a job in the
           historical section of the Treasury" [syn: {department}]
       12: a segment of a citrus fruit; "he ate a section of the
           orange"
       13: the cutting of or into body tissues or organs (especially by
           a surgeon as part of an operation) [syn: {incision}, {surgical
           incision}]
       v : divide into segments; "segment an orange"; "segment a
           compound word" [syn: {segment}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  299 Moby Thesaurus words for "section":
     KP, abscission, adjunct, airspace, allocate, allot, amputation,
     anacrusis, anastomotic operation, apportion, area, army,
     army group, article, back matter, bass passage, battalion, battery,
     battle group, belt, biotype, block, blood, bloodless operation,
     book, bourdon, bracket, branch, break up, bridge, brigade, burden,
     butchering, cadence, cadre, capital operation, caste, category,
     chapter, chopping, chorus, clan, class, clause, cleavage, cleave,
     clos, close, coda, cohort, column, combat command, combat team,
     company, compensating operation, component, confines,
     continental shelf, contingent, corneal transplant, corps, corridor,
     country, crescent operation, croft, cross section, cut, cut up,
     cutting, department, detachment, detail, development, dichotomy,
     district, divide, divide up, division, divvy, divvy up, dole,
     elective operation, element, emergency operation, enclave,
     enucleation, environs, estate, excision, exploratory operation,
     exposition, family, fascicle, fenestration operation, field,
     field army, field train, figure, file, fission, flying column,
     folderol, folio, forty, fraction, front matter, garrison,
     gathering, genotype, genus, grade, ground, group, grouping,
     harmonic close, head, heading, heart transplant, heartland,
     hinterland, installment, interlude, intermezzo, interval operation,
     introductory phrase, item, kidney transplant, kin, kingdom,
     kitchen police, kraal, label, laceration, land, leg, legion, level,
     livraison, locality, lot, major operation, maniple, measure,
     measure out, member, milieu, minor operation, moiety, movement,
     musical phrase, musical sentence, mutilation, neighborhood, number,
     offshore rights, operation, order, organ transplant,
     organ transplantation, organization, ornament, outfit, page, pale,
     palliative operation, paragraph, parcel, parcel of land,
     parcel out, part, particular, partition, parts, passage, patch,
     percentage, period, phalanx, phrase, phylum, piece, pigeonhole,
     place, plat, platoon, plot, plot of ground, portion, position,
     posse, precinct, precincts, predicament, premises, purlieus, quad,
     quadrangle, quadrant, quarter, quota, race, radical operation,
     random sample, rank, rating, real estate, refrain, regiment,
     region, remainder, removal, rending, resection, resolution,
     response, ripping, ritornello, rubric, salient, sample, sampling,
     scission, sector, segment, sentence, separate, sept, serial,
     series, set, severance, share, sheet, signature, slashing, slice,
     slicing, soil, space, species, sphere, split, split up, splitting,
     squad, squadron, square, stage, stanza, statement, station, status,
     strain, stratum, subclass, subdivide, subdivision, subfamily,
     subgenus, subgroup, subkingdom, suborder, subspecies, subtribe,
     superclass, superfamily, superorder, superspecies, surgery,
     surgical intervention, surgical operation, surgical technique,
     tactical unit, tailpiece, task force, tearing, terrain, territory,
     text, the knife, three-mile limit, title, tract, train, transplant,
     tribe, troop, tutti, tutti passage, twelve-mile limit, unit,
     variation, variety, verse, vicinage, vicinity, volume, wing,
     zone
  
  

From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]:

  Section, AL (town, FIPS 69000)
    Location: 34.58100 N, 85.98382 W
    Population (1990): 777 (335 housing units)
    Area: 11.9 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
    Zip code(s): 35771

From U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000) [gaz-place]:

  Section, AL -- U.S. town in Alabama
     Population (2000):    769
     Housing Units (2000): 352
     Land area (2000):     4.581287 sq. miles (11.865478 sq. km)
     Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
     Total area (2000):    4.581287 sq. miles (11.865478 sq. km)
     FIPS code:            69000
     Located within:       Alabama (AL), FIPS 01
     Location:             34.578155 N, 85.988114 W
     ZIP Codes (1990):     35771
     Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
     Headwords:
      Section, AL
      Section