Definition of: part

(pärt) noun
1. A certain portion or amount of anything; a piece; segment; fraction.
2. Math. One of certain fractional portions or components of a thing; an aliquot division; a submultiple: a fifth part.
3. An essential portion of a body or an organism; a member.
4. Usually plural A portion of territory; region; quarter: in foreign parts.
5. So much as is allotted or belongs to one; an individual share, as of duty, business, or performance: If he'll do his part, we'll win.
6. The role or lines assigned to an actor in a play; occasionally, a role played in actual life.
7. A side, cause, or party opposed to another.
8. Usually plural A component or quality of mind or character; talent; intellectual gift or faculty: That man is a person of parts.
9. The melody intended for a single voice or instrument in a concerted piece; also, the written or printed copy for the performer's use.
10. A section of a book, poem, or play; also, a portion of a literary work issued at intervals, at a fixed price.
11. A parting or division of the hair.
—for my part As far as I am concerned.
—in good (or ill) part With a good (or a bad) grace.
—in part Partly.
—part and parcel An essential part: an emphatic phrase.
—principal part One of the inflected forms of a verb from which all other inflected forms may be derived. In English, the principal parts of a verb are the infinitive (go, walk), the past tense (went, walked), and the past participle (gone, walked). In this dictionary, the past, past participle, and present participle are shown (gave, given, giving); in cases where the past tense and past participle are identical, only the one is shown (behaved, behaving).
—to take part To participate; share or co-operate: usually with in.
—to take someone's part To support someone in a contest or disagreement; side with someone.
—v.t.
1. To divide or break (something) into parts.
2. To sever or discontinue (a relationship or connection): to part company.
3. To separate by being or coming between; keep or move apart: The referee parted the two men.
4. To comb (the hair) so as to leave a dividing line on the sides or elsewhere on the scalp.
5. To separate (mingled substances) chemically or mechanically: to part gold and silver.
6. Archaic To divide into shares or portions.
7. Obs. To depart from; leave.
—v.i.
8. To become divided or broken into parts; come apart; divide.
9. To go away from each other; cease associating; separate.
10. To depart; leave.
—to part from To separate from; leave.
—to part with
1. To give up; relinquish.
2. To part from.
—adverb In some degree; to some extent; partly. [<OF <L pars, partis part] Synonyms (noun): atom, component, constituent, division, element, fraction, fragment, ingredient, member, particle, piece, portion, section, segment, share, subdivision. Part is the general word, including all the others. A fragment is the result of breaking, rending, or disruption of some kind, while a piece may be smoothly or evenly separated and have completeness in itself. Division and fraction are always regarded as in connection with the total; divisions may be equal or unequal; a fraction is one of several equal parts into which the whole is supposed to be divided. A portion is a part viewed with reference to some one who is to receive it or some special purpose to which it is to be applied; a share is a part to which one has or may acquire a right in connection with others; a particle is an exceedingly small part. A component, constituent, ingredient, or element is a part of some compound or mixture; an element is necessary to the existence, as a component or constituent is necessary to the completeness of that which it helps to compose; an ingredient may be foreign or accidental. A subdivision is a division of a division. We speak of a segment of a circle. Compare BRANCH, PARTICLE, PIECE, PORTION. Antonyms: see synonyms for AGGREGATE.