parting

Pluralpartings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A goodbye said when people leave each other.

   Like the last wave goodbye before someone gets on a bus.

   Their parting at the train station was full of tears.

   She gave a quick wave as a parting before driving off.

   Similarfarewell, goodbye, leave-taking, departure

   Oppositemeeting, reunion

   Note
2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of splitting something apart or pulling two things away from each other.

   Like splitting a sandwich into two halves.

   The parting of the curtains let sunlight into the room.

   A clean parting of the dough gave them two equal loaves.

   Similardivision, separation, splitting

   Note
3. 3
   nounBritishcountable

   The line on the head where hair is combed in two different directions.

   Like a straight path running between two patches of grass.

   He combed his hair into a neat parting down the middle.

   Her parting was set slightly off to one side.

   Similarpart

   Note
4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The condition of being apart from someone or something.

   Like two friends living in different towns and missing each other.

   Years of parting had not weakened their friendship.

   She found the parting from her family hard to bear.

   Similarseparation, absence

   Note
5. 5
   verb

   The -ing form of part. Use it after am, is, are, was or were, or to name the action.

   The two friends were parting at the gate when the rain began.

   Parting from old friends is never easy.

   Note
6. 6
   nouncountable

   The sudden breaking of a rope or cable when too much force pulls on it.

   Like a rope snapping when too many people pull on it at once.

   The parting of the anchor rope let the boat drift out to sea.

   A sudden parting of the towline sent the trailer rolling backward.

   Similarsnapping, breaking, rupture

   Note
7. 7
   nouncountable

   A natural crack or split running through a layer of rock or coal.

   Like a crack between two stacked sheets of rock.

   Miners followed the parting along the coal seam.

   Water seeped into the parting between the rock layers.

   Similarfissure, joint

   Note
8. 8
   noununcountable

   The process of separating the metals in an alloy, such as splitting gold from silver using acid.

   Like using a special liquid to wash one metal away and leave the other behind.

   The parting of the gold from the silver was done with strong acid.

   Assayers used parting to find out how pure the metal was.

   Similarseparation

   Note
9. 9
   nouncountable

   The surface where the sand of one half of a casting mold meets the other half.

   Like the line where the top and bottom of a lunchbox meet.

   Sand stuck to the parting when the mold halves came apart.

   The worker smoothed the parting before pouring the metal.

   Note
10. 10
    nouncountable or uncountable

    A splitting of a crystal into thin layers, caused by something other than the way it naturally breaks.

    The mineral showed a clear parting where the crystal split into thin sheets.

    Not every crystal of this mineral has a parting, so check each one carefully.

    Note

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