English Explanatory Dictionary

branch

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing.
  2. Any of the parts of something that divides like the branch of a tree.
  3. A creek or stream which flows into a larger river.
  4. One of the portions of a curve that extends outwards to an indefinitely great distance.
  5. A location of an organization with several locations.
  6. A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line.
  7. A local congregation of the LDS Church that is not large enough to form a ward; see Wikipedia article on ward in LDS church.
  8. An area in business or of knowledge, research.
  9. A certificate given by Trinity House to a pilot qualified to take navigational control of a ship in British waters.
  10. A sequence of code that is conditionally executed.
  11. A group of related files in a source control system, including for example source code, build scripts, and media such as images.
  12. A branch line.
verb
  1. To arise from the trunk or a larger branch of a tree.
  2. To produce branches.
  3. To (cause to) divide into separate parts or subdivisions.
  4. To jump to a different location in a program, especially as the result of a conditional statement.
  5. To strip of branches.
  6. To discipline (a union member) at a branch meeting.
name
  1. A surname from Old French.
  2. A tiny city in Franklin County, Arkansas.
  3. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Acadia Parish, Louisiana.
  4. An unincorporated community in Sweetwater Township, Lake County, Michigan.
  5. An unincorporated community in Camden County, Missouri.
  6. An unincorporated community in Collin County, Texas.
  7. An unincorporated community in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
  8. A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Pronunciation

bränch /bɹɑːnt͡ʃ/ brănch /bɹænt͡ʃ/ en-us-branch.ogg /ˈbɹænt͡ʃ/

Word forms

branch branches braunch branching branched

Etymology

From Middle English branche, braunche, bronche, from Old French branche, branke, from Late Latin branca (“footprint”, later also “paw, claw”) (whence Middle High German pranke, German Pranke (“paw”)), of unknown origin. Perhaps of Celtic origin, from a hypothetical Gaulish *vranca, from Proto-Indo-European *wrónk-eh₂. If so, then Indo-European cognates include Old Norse rá, vró (“angle, corner”), and possibly Lithuanian rankà (“hand”), Old Church Slavonic рѫка (rǫka, “hand”), Albanian rangë (“yardwork”). The verb is from Middle English braunchen, from the noun.

Synonyms

arm bough grain limb tiller tillow twig tree ramify

Antonyms

crotch

Related words

bourbon and branch branch banking branch current method branch-decomposition branch manager branch office branch pilot branch predictor branch register branch stacking Branch Sunday branch tee branch water branch-water branchway bundle branch block charm a bird off a branch fall out of the ugly tree and hit every branch interbranch private branch exchange pseudobranch root and branch root-and-branch saw off the branch one is sitting on summer branch drop the highest branch is not the safest roost branch off branch out debranch disbranch rebranch

Derived words

branched branchery branchful branchless branchlet branchlike branchling branchwise branchwork branchy The Branch Branch County
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