section

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
section/ˈsekʃn/

▶noun

• 1 any of the more or less distinct parts into which something is or may be divided or from which it is made up.

  ■ N. Amer. a measure of land, equal to one square mile.

  ■ chiefly N. Amer. a particular district of a town.

  ■ NZ a building plot.

• 2 a distinct group within a larger body of people or things.

  ■ a subdivision of an army platoon.

  ■ Biology a secondary taxonomic category, especially a subgenus.

• 3 the cutting of a solid by or along a plane.

  ■ the shape resulting from cutting a solid along a plane.

  ■ a representation of the internal structure of something as if it has been cut through.

• 4 Surgery a separation by cutting.

• 5 Biology a thin slice of plant or animal tissue prepared for microscopic examination.

▶verb

• 1 divide into sections.

• 2 Surgery divide by cutting.

• 3 Brit. commit (someone) compulsorily to a psychiatric hospital in accordance with a section of a mental health act.

– derivatives
sectional adjective,
sectionalize (or sectionalise) verb,
sectionally adverb,
sectioned adjective.

– origin ME: from Fr. section or L. sectio(n-), from secare ‘to cut’.