\Sec"tion\, n. [L. sectio, fr. secare, sectum, to cut;
akin to E. saw a cutting instrument: cf. F. section. See
{Saw}, and cf. {Scion}, {Dissect}, {Insect}, {Secant},
{Segment}.]
1. The act of cutting, or separation by cutting; as, the
   section of bodies.
2. A part separated from something; a division; a portion; a
   slice. Specifically:
   (a) A distinct part or portion of a book or writing; a
       subdivision of a chapter; the division of a law or
       other writing; a paragraph; an article; hence, the
       character [sect], often used to denote such a
       division.
             It is hardly possible to give a distinct view of
             his several arguments in distinct sections.
                                               --Locke.
   (b) A distinct part of a country or people, community,
       class, or the like; a part of a territory separated by
       geographical lines, or of a people considered as
       distinct.
             The extreme section of one class consists of
             bigoted dotards, the extreme section of the
             other consists of shallow and reckless empirics.
                                               --Macaulay.
   (c) One of the portions, of one square mile each, into
       which the public lands of the United States are
       divided; one thirty-sixth part of a township. These
       sections are subdivided into quarter sections for sale
       under the homestead and pre["e]mption laws.
3. (Geom.) The figure made up of all the points common to a
   superficies and a solid which meet, or to two superficies
   which meet, or to two lines which meet. In the first case
   the section is a superficies, in the second a line, and in
   the third a point.
4. (Nat. Hist.) A division of a genus; a group of species
   separated by some distinction from others of the same
   genus; -- often indicated by the sign [sect].
5. (Mus.) A part of a musical period, composed of one or more
   phrases. See {Phrase}.
6. The description or representation of anything as it would
   appear if cut through by any intersecting plane; depiction
   of what is beyond a plane passing through, or supposed to
   pass through, an object, as a building, a machine, a
   succession of strata; profile.
Note: In mechanical drawing, as in these Illustrations of a
      cannon, a longitudinal section (a) usually represents
      the object as cut through its center lengthwise and
      vertically; a cross or transverse section (b), as cut
      crosswise and vertically; and a horizontal section (c),
      as cut through its center horizontally. Oblique
      sections are made at various angles. In architecture, a
      vertical section is a drawing showing the interior, the
      thickness of the walls, ets., as if made on a vertical
      plane passed through a building.
{Angular sections} (Math.), a branch of analysis which treats
   of the relations of sines, tangents, etc., of arcs to the
   sines, tangents, etc., of their multiples or of their
   parts. [R.]
{Conic sections}. (Geom.) See under {Conic}.
{Section liner} (Drawing), an instrument to aid in drawing a
   series of equidistant parallel lines, -- used in
   representing sections.
{Thin sections}, a section or slice, as of mineral, animal,
   or vegetable substance, thin enough to be transparent, and
   used for study under the microscope.
Syn: Part; portion; division.
Usage: {Section}, {Part}. The English more commonly apply the
       word section to a part or portion of a body of men;
       as, a section of the clergy, a small section of the
       Whigs, etc. In the United States this use is less
       common, but another use, unknown or but little known
       in England, is very frequent, as in the phrases ``the
       eastern section of our country,'' etc., the same sense
       being also given to the adjective sectional as,
       sectional feelings, interests, etc.