sever
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /ˈsɛv.ɚ/
Verb

sever (severs, present participle severing; past and past participle severed)

  1. (transitive) To cut free.
    After he graduated, he severed all links to his family.
    to sever the head from the body
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Matthew 13:49 ↗:
      The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.
    • 1999, Eminem, Role Model (song)
      That I just severed the main vein with a chainsaw and I'm in pain?
  2. (intransitive) To suffer disjunction; to be parted or separated.
    • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act 4, scene 5]:
      No more can I be seuered from your side
  3. (intransitive) To make a separation or distinction; to distinguish.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Exodus 9:4 ↗:
      The Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt.
    • 18, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 17, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify ), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323 ↗:
  4. (legal) To disunite; to disconnect; to terminate.
    to sever an estate in joint tenancy
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