to turn the course of, as water; to divert and distribute into subordinate channels; to diffuse; to communicate; to transmit; -- followed by to, into, on, upon.-to receive, as from a source or origin; to obtain by descent or by transmission; to draw; to deduce; -- followed by from.-to trace the origin, descent, or derivation of; to recognize transmission of; as, he derives this word from the anglo-saxon.-to obtain one substance from another by actual or theoretical substitution; as, to derive an organic acid from its corresponding hydrocarbon.-to flow; to have origin; to descend; to proceed; to be deduced.