branch

English Online Dictionary. What means branch‎? What does branch mean?

English

Alternative forms

• braunch (obsolete)

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bränch, IPA^(key): /bɹɑːnt͡ʃ/
• (US, Northern England) enPR: brănch, IPA^(key): /bɹænt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːntʃ, -æntʃ

Noun

branch (plural branches)

2. The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing.

   Synonyms: arm, bough, grain, limb, tiller, tillow, twig; see also Thesaurus:tree
3. Any of the parts of something that divides like the branch of a tree.

5. (chiefly Southern US) A creek or stream which flows into a larger river.

   Coordinate terms: (Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) run, (New York, New England) brook

6. (geometry) One of the portions of a curve that extends outwards to an indefinitely great distance.

7. A location of an organization with several locations.

9. A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line.
10. (Mormonism) A local congregation of the LDS Church that is not large enough to form a ward; see Wikipedia article on ward in LDS church.
12. An area in business or of knowledge, research.
13. (nautical) A certificate given by Trinity House to a pilot qualified to take navigational control of a ship in British waters.
14. (computing) A sequence of code that is conditionally executed.
15. (computing) A group of related files in a source control system, including for example source code, build scripts, and media such as images.
16. (rail transport) A branch line.
17. (graph theory) A path of vertices of degree 2, ending at vertices whose degree is not 2.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

branch (third-person singular simple present branches, present participle branching, simple past and past participle branched)

1. (intransitive) To arise from the trunk or a larger branch of a tree.
2. (intransitive) To produce branches.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To (cause to) divide into separate parts or subdivisions.
4. (intransitive, computing) To jump to a different location in a program, especially as the result of a conditional statement.
5. (transitive) To strip of branches.
6. (transitive, colloquial) To discipline (a union member) at a branch meeting.

Related terms

• branch off
• branch out

Translations

References

Further reading

• branch (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French branche (“branch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɣãʃ/

Noun

branch

1. branch

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

branch

1. Alternative form of braunche

Etymology 2

Verb

branch

1. Alternative form of braunchen