act of departing; departure.-a part, portion, or subdivision.-a distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province.-subdivision of business or official duty; especially, one of the principal divisions of executive government; as, the treasury department; the war department; also, in a university, one of the divisions of instruction; as, the medical department; the department of physics.-a territorial division; a district; esp., in france, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes; as, the department of the loire.-a military subdivision of a country; as, the department of the potomac.