20091005Word of the Day

junli

bifurcate

\BY-fur-kayt; by-FUR-kayt\ , transitive verb:
1.To divide into two branches or parts.intransitive
verb: 1.To branch or separate into two parts.
adjective: 1.Divided into two branches or parts; forked.
及物动词 vt.
1.使分枝;使分叉
不及物动词 vi.
1.分枝;分叉
形容词 a.
1.分叉的

Quotes:
There it was, a sliver of a million-dollar view: the red towers of the Golden Gate Bridge that bifurcated the waters, marking bay from ocean.
~Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter
They were strolling up the paved walk which bifurcated the rolling front lawn of her house.
~Erik Tarloff, The Man Who Wrote the Book
Riven continually confronts us with . . . visual echoes of its name, such as the giant dagger thrust into the landscape at one point, or the plate-tectonic fracturing of islands out of an implied unity, or even the bifurcate wing cases of the aptly named Riven beetles.
~Stuart Moulthrop, "Misadventure: Future Fiction and the New Networks", Style, Summer 1999

Origin:
Bifurcate comes from the past participle of Medieval Latin bifurcare, "to divide," from Latin bifurcus, "two-pronged," from bi- + furca, "fork."