- divide (v.)
- late 14c., from L. dividere "to force apart, cleave, distribute," from dis- "apart" + -videre "to separate," from PIE base *widh- "to separate," related to widow; and see with. Mathematical sense is from early 15c. The noun meaning "watershed, separation between river valleys" is first recorded 1807. Divider "partition or screen," especially in a room, is from 1959. Divide and rule (c.1600) translates L. divide et impera, a maxim of Machiavelli. Related: Divided; dividing.