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Department

1. Act of departing; departure. Sudden departments from one extreme to another. (Wotton)

2. A part, portion, or subdivision.

3. A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province. Superior to pope in popes own peculiar department of literature. (Macaulay)

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 instructions; as, the medical department; the department of physics.

5. A territorial division; a district; especially, 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. A military subdivision of a country; as, the department of the Potomac.

Origin: f. Departement, fr. Departir.