Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Division \Di*vi"sion\, n. [F. division, L. divisio, from
   dividere. See {Divide}.]
   1. The act or process of diving anything into parts, or the
      state of being so divided; separation.

            I was overlooked in the division of the spoil.
                                                  --Gibbon.

   2. That which divides or keeps apart; a partition.

   3. The portion separated by the divining of a mass or body; a
      distinct segment or section.

            Communities and divisions of men.     --Addison.

   4. Disunion; difference in opinion or feeling; discord;
      variance; alienation.

            There was a division among the people. --John vii.
                                                  43.

   5. Difference of condition; state of distinction;
      distinction; contrast. --Chaucer.

            I will put a division between my people and thy
            people.                               --Ex. viii.
                                                  23.

   6. Separation of the members of a deliberative body, esp. of
      the Houses of Parliament, to ascertain the vote.

            The motion passed without a division. --Macaulay.

   7. (Math.) The process of finding how many times one number
      or quantity is contained in another; the reverse of
      multiplication; also, the rule by which the operation is
      performed.

   8. (Logic) The separation of a genus into its constituent
      species.

   9. (Mil.)
      (a) Two or more brigades under the command of a general
          officer.
      (b) Two companies of infantry maneuvering as one
          subdivision of a battalion.
      (c) One of the larger districts into which a country is
          divided for administering military affairs.

   10. (Naut.) One of the groups into which a fleet is divided.

   11. (Mus.) A course of notes so running into each other as to
       form one series or chain, to be sung in one breath to one
       syllable.

   12. (Rhet.) The distribution of a discourse into parts; a
       part so distinguished.

   13. (Biol.) A grade or rank in classification; a portion of a
       tribe or of a class; or, in some recent authorities,
       equivalent to a subkingdom.

   {Cell division} (Biol.), a method of cell increase, in which
      new cells are formed by the division of the parent cell.
      In this process, the cell nucleus undergoes peculiar
      differentiations and changes, as shown in the figure (see
      also {Karyokinesis}). At the same time the protoplasm of
      the cell becomes gradually constricted by a furrow
      transverse to the long axis of the nuclear spindle,
      followed, on the completion of the division of the
      nucleus, by a separation of the cell contents into two
      masses, called the daughter cells.

   {Long division} (Math.), the process of division when the
      operations are mostly written down.

   {Short division} (Math.), the process of division when the
      operations are mentally performed and only the results
      written down; -- used principally when the divisor is not
      greater than ten or twelve.

   Syn: compartment; section; share; allotment; distribution;
        separation; partition; disjunction; disconnection;
        difference; variance; discord; disunion.

Source : WordNet®

short division
     n : the operation of division in which the sequence of steps is
         performed without writing them out