To divide or parcel out; allot in shares; bestow in parts or shares, or in due proportion; apportion; divide among several: as, Moses distributed lands to the tribes of Israel; Christ distributed the loaves to his disciples; to distribute justice.
To separate and put in place or order; arrange by classification or location: as, to distribute printing-types into their respective boxes (see II., 2); to distribute animals into classes, orders, genera, and species; to distribute the books in a library according to their subjects.
To spread; scatter; disperse.
To spread out; cover a surface or fill a space with: as, to distribute ink (that is, spread it evenly and smoothly) on printing-rollers; to distribute manure over a field; to distribute heat in a building.
In logic, to employ in its full extent, as a term
Synonyms Apportion, Allot, Assign (see dispense); partition, portion out.
To classify, arrange, sort, assort, dispose.
To make distribution; exercise charity.
In printing, to put dead matter (that, is, composed types that are no longer needed for printing) into the cases, by holding a quantity of it upright in the left hand on a support, and throwing the sepa rate types from a number taken between the thumb and first and second fingers of the right hand into their proper boxes; to “throw in”: as, he distributes rapidly.