parting

Noun

parting (countable and uncountable, plural partings)

1. The act of parting or dividing; division; separation.
2. The state of being parted.
   • The parting of the way.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 21:21
   • Bridge End is the border station and the scene of many a sad parting between enterprising shoppers and their purchases—for it is a stronghold of the Customs !—and half an hour is allowed in the timetable for examination and shunting.1949 November and December, K. Longbottom, “By Goods Train to Gweedore”, in Railway Magazine, page 353
3. A farewell, the act of departing politely.
   • And there were sudden partings,such as press / The life from out young hearts.1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XXIV
   • But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades.1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC
4. (UK) The dividing line formed by combing the hair in different directions.
   • Margaret Thatcher’s 80s power suits were scrutinised; David Cameron’s switching of his parting was national news (Cameron later nominated his barber for an MBE); and eyebrows were raised at Theresa May’s favourite and incongruous Frida Kahlo bracelet.2019 September 13, Hannah Jane Parkinson, “Canvas of lies: what Dominic Cummings' dress sense tells us about Brexit”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms:

   part

5. (founding) The joint or connected between two surfaces of one section of a mould.
6. The separation and determination of alloys; especially, the separation, as by acids, of gold from silver in the assay button.
7. A joint or fissure, as in a coal seam.
8. The breaking, as of a cable, by violence.
9. Lamellar separation in a crystallized mineral, due to some other cause than cleavage, as to the presence of twinning lamellae.