part

plural parts

1. A portion; a component.
   1. A fraction of a whole.

      Gaul is divided into three parts.

      3 more examples

      I was in Australia part of last year.

      Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

      1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii

      America’s poverty line is $63 a day for a family of four. In the richer parts of the emerging world $4 a day is the poverty barrier. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 ([…]): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.

      2013 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 11

      Synonyms: piece, portion, component, element

   2. A distinct element of something larger.

      The parts of a chainsaw include the chain, engine, and handle.

      2 more examples

      It had been arranged as part of the day's programme that Mr. Cooke was to drive those who wished to go over the Rise in his new brake.

      1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

      A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.

      2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, in The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly)

   3. A group inside a larger group.

      Synonyms: faction, party

   4. Share, especially of a profit.

      I want my part of the bounty.

   5. A unit of relative proportion in a mixture.

      This pastry is one part butter to three parts flour.

      1 more example

      The mixture comprises one part sodium hydroxide and ten parts water.

   6. 3.5 centiliters of one ingredient in a mixed drink.
   7. A section of a document.

      Please turn to Part I, Chapter 2.

   8. A section of land; an area of a country or other territory; region.

      […] the Faery knight / Besought that Damzell suffer him depart, / And yield him readie passage to that other part.

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   9. datedmathematicsA factor.

      3 is a part of 12.

   10. USA room in a public building, especially a courtroom.
   11. colloquialeuphemisticA private part; genitalia.

       She wasn't wearing her medieval clothes anymore — she wasn't wearing anything. She was completely starkers — completely Billy bollocks. You could see everything even her part.

       2022, Herschel K. Stroganoff, The Herc Braveman Adventures

2. Duty; responsibility.

   to do one’s part

   Synonyms: hand

   1. Position or role (especially in a play).

      We all have a part to play.

      2 more examples

      We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.

      1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

      He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights,[…], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

      1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

      Synonyms: hand, position, role

   2. entertainmentThe melody played or sung by a particular instrument, voice, or group of instruments or voices, within a polyphonic piece.

      The first violin part in this concerto is very challenging.

      Synonyms: hand

   3. Each of two contrasting sides of an argument, debate etc.; "hand".

      He that is not against us is on our part.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 9:40

      2 more examples

      Meaning to gaine thereby, that the fruition of life, cannot perfectly be pleaſing vnto vs, if we ſtand in any feare to looſe it. A man might nevertheleſſe ſay on the contrarie part, that we embrace and claſp this good ſo much the harder, and with more affection, as we perceive it to be leſſe ſure, and feare it ſhould be taken from vs.

      1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 15, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 356

      Make whole kingdoms take her brother's part.

      1650, Edmund Waller, to my Lady Morton (epistle)

      Synonyms: hand

3. USThe dividing line formed by combing the hair in different directions.

   The part of his hair was slightly to the left.

   1 more example

   He prefers to be seen from his right side so that the part in his hair does not show.

   2026 September 21, Peter Baker, “Trump Faces the Sting of a Media Boycott After Press Pool Withdrawal”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: parting, parting, shed, shoad, shode

4. JudaismIn the Hebrew lunisolar calendar, a unit of time equivalent to 3⅓ seconds.

   Synonyms: chelek

5. A constituent of character or capacity; quality; faculty; talent; usually in the plural with a collective sense.

   great quickness of parts

   1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   which maintained so politic a state of evil, that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them.

   1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

   men of considerable parts

   1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC

present singular third person parts · participle present parting · participle past parted · past parted

1. intransitiveTo leave the company of (each other, or someone/something [with with or from]).

   He wrung Bassanio's hand, and so they parted.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]

   4 more examples

   It was strange to him that a father should feel no tenderness at parting with an only son.

   1879, Anthony Trollope, John Caldigate

   There is an hour when I must part / From all I hold most dear

   1841, “There is an Hour when I must Part”, Andrew Reed (lyrics)

   his precious bag, which he would by no means part from

   1860, George Eliot, Recollections of Italy

   "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.[…]."

   1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. transitiveTo divide in two.

   to part the curtains

   1 more example

   I run the canoe into a deep dent in the bank that I knowed about; I had to part the willow branches to get in; and when I made fast nobody could a seen the canoe from the outside.

   1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC

3. transitiveTo cut hair with a parting.
4. intransitiveTo be divided in two or separated.

   A rope parts.  His hair parts in the middle.

   1 more example

   I see the Red Sea part in front of me I see the desert clouds bleed above me I'm with the prophets on the final destiny We'll fight the heathens and the ghost enemy This is the prophecy

   2004, “Prophecy”, in Max Cavalera (lyrics), Max Cavalera (music), Prophecy, performed by Soulfly, Track 1

5. archaictransitiveTo divide up; to share.

   They parted my raiment among them.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 19:24

   4 more examples

   He that hath ij. cootes, lett hym parte with hym that hath none: And he that hath meate, let him do lyke wyse.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke

   He left three sonnes, his famous progeny, / Borne of faire Inogene of Italy; / Mongst whom he parted his imperiall state […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   to part his throne, and share his heaven with thee

   c. 1699 – 1703, Alexander Pope, “The First Book of Statius His Thebais”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC

   Her friend parted his breakfast — a scanty mess of coffee and some coarse bread — with the child and her grandfather, and inquired whither they were going.

   1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter number or name)”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC

6. intransitiveobsoleteTo have a part or share; to partake.

   They shall part alike.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 30:24

7. transitiveTo separate or disunite; to remove from contact or contiguity; to sunder.

   The narrow seas that part / The French and English.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene viii]

   1 more example

   While he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 24:51

8. obsoletetransitiveTo hold apart; to stand or intervene between.

   The stumbling night did part our weary powers.

   c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]

9. transitiveTo separate by a process of extraction, elimination, or secretion.

   to part gold from silver

   1 more example

   The liver minds his own affair,[…]/ And parts and strains the vital juices.

   1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC

10. archaictransitiveTo leave; to quit.

    since presently your souls must part your bodies

    1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

11. InternettransitiveTo leave (an IRC channel).

    He parted the channel saying "SHUTUP!"[…]so I queried him, asking if there was something I could do[…]maybe talk[…]so we did[…]since then, I've been seeing him on IRC every day (really can't imagine him not being on IRC anymore actually).

    2000, Phantom, “Re: Uhm... hi... I guess...”, in alt.support.boy-lovers (Usenet)

1. not comparableFractional; partial.

   Fred was part owner of the car.

1. not comparablePartly; partially; fractionally.

   Part finished

2. not comparableto a partial degree.

   My Native American friend is also part German and part French.