distribute

From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈstɹɪbjuːt/, /ˈdɪstɹɪbjuːt/
• (General American) enPR: dĭ-strĭbʹyo͞ot, IPA^(key): /dɪˈstɹɪbjut/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪbjuːt, -ɪstɹɪbjuːt
• Hyphenation: dis‧trib‧ute

distribute (third-person singular simple present distributes, present participle distributing, simple past and past participle distributed)

2. (transitive) To divide into portions and dispense.

   He distributed the bread amongst his followers.

4. (transitive) To supply to retail outlets.

   The agency distributes newspapers to local shops.

6. (transitive) To deliver or pass out.

   A network of children distributes flyers to every house.

   • 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714:

     Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics.

   • 2000, George Abe, Residential Broadband, Cisco Systems, →ISBN:

     Datacasting bypasses the wired, terrestrial Internet and is a cheaper way to distribute software than pressing and mailing CDs.

8. (transitive) To scatter or spread.

   I raked the soil then distributed grass seed.

   • 1949, Proceedings of the ... Consolidated Convention of the International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, Iron Ship Builders, and Helpers of America, page 159:

     The air-handling equipment humidifies, dehumidifies, and distributes the correct amount of fresh air into every zone and eliminates all smoke, dust, and odors, with electric precipitrons.

10. (transitive) To apportion (more or less evenly).

    The robot's six legs distributed its weight over a wide area.

    • 2023 November 29, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Can we save HS2 to Crewe?”, in RAIL, number 997, page 3:

      With an election not much more than a year away, distributing HS2's money into roads is pork barrel politics. Or at least it would be if the money existed.

2. (transitive) To classify or separate into categories.

   The database distributed verbs into transitive and intransitive segments.

4. (intransitive, mathematics) To be distributive.
5. (printing) To separate (type which has been used) and return it to the proper boxes in the cases.
6. (printing) To spread (ink) evenly, as upon a roller or a table.
7. (logic) To employ (a term) in its whole extent; to take as universal in one premise.
   • 1826, Richard Whately, Elements of Logic:

     A term is said to be distributed when it is taken universal, so as to stand for everything it is capable of being applied to.

8. (business) To have employees working remotely from multiple locations.

   distributed business; distributed employee

• (to divide into portions and dispense): allot, dispend, parcel out; see also Thesaurus:distribute
• (to deliver or pass out): courier
• (to scatter or spread): disperse, sparble, strew; see also Thesaurus:disperse
• (to classify or separate into categories): categorize, sort; see also Thesaurus:classify

• “distribute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “distribute”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• turbidites

From distribūtus, participle of distribuō (“distribute, apportion”).

distribūtē (comparative distribūtius, superlative distribūtissimē)

1. orderly, methodically

• distribuō
• distribūtiō
• distribūtus

• “distribute”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)