A shoot or secondary stem growing from the main stem, or from a principal limb or bough of a tree or other plant. [1913 Webster]
Any division extending like a branch; any arm or part connected with the main body of thing; ramification; as, the branch of an antler; the branch of a chandelier; a branch of a river; a branch of a railway. [1913 Webster]
"Most of the branches , or streams, were dried up." [1913 Webster]
Any member or part of a body or system; a distinct article; a section or subdivision; a department. Prescott. [1913 Webster]
"It is a branch and parcel of mine oath." [1913 Webster]
One of the portions of a curve that extends outwards to an indefinitely great distance; as, the branches of an hyperbola. [1913 Webster]
A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line; as, the English branch of a family. [1913 Webster]
"His father, a younger branch of the ancient stock." [1913 Webster]
A warrant or commission given to a pilot, authorizing him to pilot vessels in certain waters. [1913 Webster]

Branches of a bridle, two pieces of bent iron, which bear the bit, the cross chains, and the curb. -- Branch herring. See Alewife. -- Root and branch , totally, wholly.

Syn. -- Bough; limb; shoot; offshoot; twig; sprig.

Branch, a.

Diverging from, or tributary to, a main stock, line, way, theme, etc.; as, a branch vein; a branch road or line; a branch topic; a branch store. [1913 Webster]

Branch, v. i.

To shoot or spread in branches; to separate into branches; to ramify. [1913 Webster]
To divide into separate parts or subdivision. [1913 Webster]
"To branch out into a long disputation." [1913 Webster]

To branch off, to form a branch or a separate part; to diverge. -- To branch out, to speak diffusively; to extend one's discourse to other topics than the main one; also, to enlarge the scope of one's business, etc.

Branch, v. t.

To divide as into branches; to make subordinate division in. [1913 Webster]
To adorn with needlework representing branches, flowers, or twigs. [1913 Webster]
"The train whereof loose far behind her strayed,
Branched with gold and pearl, most richly wrought." [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

Branch, n. & v.
--n.
1 a limb extending from a tree or bough.
2 a lateral extension or subdivision, esp. of a river, road, or railway.
3 a conceptual extension or subdivision, as of a family, knowledge, etc.
4 a local division or office etc. of a large business, as of a bank, library, etc.
--v.intr. (often foll. by off)
1 diverge from the main part.
2 divide into branches.

Idiom

branch out extend one's field of interest.

Derivative

branched adj. branchlet n. branchlike adj. branchy adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF branche f. LL branca paw

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THESAURUS

Branch

L, V, adolescent stream, affiliate, affiliation, affluent, angle, angle off, apparentation, appendage, arm, arroyo, bayou, bear off, beck, bend, bifurcate, billabong, bine, biotype, birth, bisect, blood, bloodline, body, booking office, bough, bourn, box office, bracket, braided stream, branch off, branch office, branch out, branchedness, branchiness, breed, brook, brooklet, burgeon, burn, by two, cabinet, cable railway, caste, category, chambers, chancellery, chancery, change the bearing, channel, chapter, church, clan, class, cleave, closet, cog railway, common ancestry, communion, community, confluent, confluent stream, consanguinity, consulate, corporate headquarters, crank, creek, crick, crook, crotch, crutch, curve, cut in two, deadwood, delta, den, dendritic drainage pattern, denomination, depart from, department, deploy, derivation, descent, detour, deviate, dichotomize, digress, dimidiate, direct line, disperse, distaff side, divagate, divaricate, diverge, diversify, divide, division, effluent, el, elbow, electric railway, elevated, elevated railway, embankment, embassy, estate, executive office, expand, extend, extraction, faction, family, fan, fan out, feeder, feeder line, fellowship, female line, filiation, fission, flagellum, flare, flowing stream, fluviation, fork, fresh, freshet, frond, furcate, furcula, furculum, genotype, genus, gill, grade, gravity-operated railway, groin, group, grouping, halve, hand, head, heading, headquarters, heel, home office, hook, horse railway, house, imp, in half, inguen, joint, junction, kill, kin, kingdom, label, lazy stream, leg, legation, level, light railroad, limb, line, line of descent, lineage, link, lobe, lobule, local, lodge, main line, main office, male line, meandering stream, member, metro, midchannel, midstream, millstream, monorail, moving road, navigable river, office, offset, offshoot, open, open up, order, organ, organization, outspread, outstretch, overgrow, overrun, part, party, persuasion, phylum, pigeonhole, pinion, position, post, predicament, prong, race, racing stream, rack railway, rack-and-pinion railway, rail, rail line, railroad, railway, ramage, ramification, ramify, rank, rating, religious order, river, rivulet, roadbed, roadway, rubric, run, rundle, runlet, runnel, runner, sarment, schism, school, scion, sect, sectarism, section, seed, segment, sept, series, service, set, sheer, shift, shoot, shop, side, sidetrack, siding, sike, slip, society, spear, spear side, species, spill stream, spin-off, spindle side, splay, split in two, spraddle, sprangle, sprawl, spray, spread, spread like wildfire, spread out, sprig, sprit, sprout, spur, station, status, stem, stirps, stock, stolon, strain, stratum, stream, stream action, streamlet, street railway, streetcar line, study, subclass, subdivide, subdivision, subfamily, subgenus, subgroup, subkingdom, suborder, subsidiary, subspecies, subterranean river, subtribe, subway, succession, sucker, superclass, superfamily, superorder, superspecies, swerve, switch, switchback, sword side, tack, tail, tendril, terminal, terminus, thallus, ticket office, title, track, tram, tramline, transect, trend, trestle, tribe, tributary, trident, trifurcate, trolley line, trunk, trunk line, tube, turn, turn aside, turnout, twig, underground, unfold, variety, vary, veer, version, wadi, watercourse, waterway, widen, wing, wishbone, zag, zig, zigzag

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ROGET THESAURUS

Branch

Part

N part, portion, dose, item, particular, aught, any, division, ward, subdivision, section, chapter, clause, count, paragraph, verse, article, passage, sector, segment, fraction, fragment, cantle, frustum, detachment, parcel, piece, lump, bit cut, cutting, chip, chunk, collop, slice, scale, lamina, small part, morsel, particle, installment, dividend, share, debris, odds and ends, oddments, detritus, excerpta, member, limb, lobe, lobule, arm, wing, scion, branch, bough, joint, link, offshoot, ramification, twig, bush, spray, sprig, runner, leaf, leaflet, stump, component part, sarmentum, compartment, department, county, fractional, fragmentary, sectional, aliquot, divided, in compartments, multifid, disconnected, partial, partly, in part, partially, piecemeal, part by part, by by installments, by snatches, by inches, by driblets, bit by bit, inch by inch, foot by foot, drop by drop, in detail, in lots.

Posterity

N posterity, progeny, breed, issue, offspring, brood, litter, seed, farrow, spawn, spat, family, grandchildren, heirs, great-grandchild, child, son, daughter, butcha, bantling, scion, acrospire, plumule, shoot, sprout, olive-branch, sprit, branch, off-shoot, off- set, ramification, descendant, heir, heiress, heir-apparent, heir- presumptive, chip off the old block, heredity, rising generation, straight descent, sonship, line, lineage, filiation, primogeniture, filial, diphyletic, the child is father of the man, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, like father, like son.

River

N river, running water, jet, spirt, spurt, squirt, spout, spray, splash, rush, gush, jet d'eau, sluice, water spout, water fall, cascade, force, foss, lin, linn, ghyll, Niagara, cataract, rapids, white water, catadupe, cataclysm, debacle, inundation, deluge, chute, washout, rain, rainfall, serein, shower, scud, downpour, driving rain, drenching rain, cloudburst, hyetology, hyetography, predominance of Aquarius, reign of St. Swithin, mizzle, drizzle, stillicidum, plash, dropping, falling weather, northeaster, hurricane, typhoon, stream, course, flux, flow, profluence, effluence, defluxion, flowing, current, tide, race, coulee, spring, artesian well, fount, fountain, rill, rivulet, gill, gullet, rillet, streamlet, brooklet, branch, runnel, sike, burn, beck, creek, brook, bayou, stream, river, reach, tributary, geyser, spout, waterspout, body of water, torrent, rapids, flush, flood, swash, spring tide, high tide, full tide, bore, tidal bore, eagre, hygre, fresh, freshet, indraught, reflux, undercurrent, eddy, vortex, gurge, whirlpool, Maelstrom, regurgitation, overflow, confluence, corrivation, wave, billow, surge, swell, ripple, anerythmon gelasma, beach comber, riffle, rollers, ground swell, surf, breakers, white horses, whitecaps, rough sea, heavy sea, high seas, cross sea, long sea, short sea, chopping sea, hydrodynamics, hydraulics, hydraulicostatics, rain gauge, flowmeter, pegology, irrigation, pump, watering pot, watering cart, hydrant, syringe, garden hose, lawn spray, bhisti, mussuk, fluent, diffluent, profluent, affluent, tidal, flowing, meandering, meandry, meandrous, fluvial, fluviatile, streamy, showery, rainy, pluvial, stillicidous, stillatitious, for men may come and men may go but I go on foreve, that old man river, he just keeps rolling along.

Vegetable

N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.

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