the act of distributing or dispensing; the act of dividing or apportioning among several or many; apportionment; as, the distribution of an estate among heirs or children.-separation into parts or classes; arrangement of anything into parts; disposition; classification.-that which is distributed.-a resolving a whole into its parts.-the sorting of types and placing them in their proper boxes in the cases.-the steps or operations by which steam is supplied to and withdrawn from the cylinder at each stroke of the piston; viz., admission, suppression or cutting off, release or exhaust, and compression of exhaust steam prior to the next admission.