Sever

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: sev=er

CIDE DICTIONARY

Sever, v. t. [OF. sevrer, severer, to separate, F. sevrer to wean, fr. L. separare. See Separate, and cf. Several.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just."  [1913 Webster]
•  To cut or break open or apart; to divide into parts; to cut through; to disjoin; as, to sever the arm or leg.  [1913 Webster]

  "Our state can not be severed; we are one."  [1913 Webster]
•  To keep distinct or apart; to except; to exempt.  [1913 Webster]

  "I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there."  [1913 Webster]
•  To disunite; to disconnect; to terminate; as, to sever an estate in joint tenancy.  Blackstone.  [1913 Webster]

Sever, v. i. 

•  To suffer disjunction; to be parted, or rent asunder; to be separated; to part; to separate.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  To make a separation or distinction; to distinguish.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt."  [1913 Webster]

  "They claimed the right of severing in their challenge."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Sever, v.
1 tr. & intr. (often foll. by from) divide, break, or make separate, esp. by cutting.
2 tr. & intr. break off or away; separate, part, divide (severed our friendship).
3 tr. end the employment contract of (a person).

Derivative

severable adj.

Etymology

ME f. AF severer, OF sevrer ult. f. L separare SEPARATE v.

THESAURUS

Sever

abandon, amputate, analyze, anatomize, atomize, ax, bisect, bob, break off, break up, butcher, carve, cease, change, chop, chop logic, cleave, contradistinguish, cut, cut away, cut in two, cut off, demarcate, demark, desynonymize, detach, dichotomize, difference, differentiate, discern, disconnect, discontinue, discriminate, disequalize, disjoin, disjoint, dissect, dissever, dissolve, distinguish, disunite, diversify, divide, divorce, dock, draw the line, end, excise, extricate, fissure, gash, hack, halve, hew, incise, individualize, individuate, jigsaw, lance, make a distinction, mark, mark off, mark out, mark the interface, modify, pare, part, particularize, personalize, pick out, prune, refine a distinction, rend, rive, saw, scissor, screen, screen out, segregate, select, separate, set a limit, set apart, set off, severalize, sieve, sieve out, sift, sift out, slash, slice, slit, snip, sort, sort out, specialize, split, split hairs, stop, subdivide, subtilize, sunder, suspend, tear, terminate, vary, whittle, winnow

ROGET THESAURUS

Sever

Disjunction

VB be disjoined, come off, fall off, come to pieces, fall to pieces, peel off, get loose, disjoin, disconnect, disengage, disunite, dissociate, dispair, divorce, part, dispart, detach, separate, cut off, rescind, segregate, set apart, keep apart, insulate, isolate, throw out of gear, cut adrift, loose, unloose, undo, unbind, unchain, unlock, unpack, unravel, disentangle, set free, sunder, divide, subdivide, sever, dissever, abscind, circumcise, cut, incide, incise, saw, snip, nib, nip, cleave, rive, rend, slit, split, splinter, chip, crack, snap, break, tear, burst, rend, rend asunder, rend in twain, wrench, rupture, shatter, shiver, cranch, crunch, craunch, chop, cut up, rip up, hack, hew, slash, whittle, haggle, hackle, discind, lacerate, scamble, mangle, gash, hash, slice, cut up, carve, dissect, anatomize, dislimb, take to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, tear piecemeal, tear limb from limb, divellicate, skin, disintegrate, dismember, disbranch, disband, disperse, dislocate, disjoint, break up, mince, comminute, apportion, part, part company, separate, leave.