sever Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb set or keep apart
    break up.
    • sever a relationship
  2. verb cut off from a whole
    discerp; lop.
    • His head was severed from his body
    • The soul discerped from the body

WordNet


Sev"er transitive verb
Etymology
OF. sevrer, severer, to separate, F. sevrer to wean, fr. L. separare. See Separate, and cf. Several.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Severed ; present participle & verbal noun Severing
Definitions
  1. To separate, as one from another; to cut off from something; to divide; to part in any way, especially by violence, as by cutting, rending, etc.; as, to sever the head from the body.
    The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just. Matt. xiii. 49.
  2. To cut or break open or apart; to divide into parts; to cut through; to disjoin; as, to sever the arm or leg.
    Our state can not be severed; we are one. Milton.
  3. To keep distinct or apart; to except; to exempt.
    I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there. Ex. viii. 22.
  4. (Law) To disunite; to disconnect; to terminate; as, to sever an estate in joint tenancy. Blackstone.
Sev"er intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To suffer disjunction; to be parted, or rent asunder; to be separated; to part; to separate. Shak.
  2. To make a separation or distinction; to distinguish.
    The Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. Ex. ix. 4.
    They claimed the right of severing in their challenge. Macaulay.

Webster 1913