Department
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): (v. i.) A part, portion, or subdivision.
(2): (v. i.) A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province.
(3): (v. i.) 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 instruction; as, the medical department; the department of physics.
(4): (v. i.) A territorial division; a district; esp., 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.
(5): (v. i.) Act of departing; departure.
(6): (v. i.) A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [2]
A territorial division in France instituted in 1790, under which the old division into provinces was broken up; each department, of which there are now 87, is broken up into arrondissements.
