severance

severance
    n 1: a personal or social separation (as between opposing
         factions); "they hoped to avoid a break in relations" [syn:
         {rupture}, {breach}, {break}, {severance}, {rift}, {falling
         out}]
    2: the act of severing [syn: {severance}, {severing}]
    

Severance \Sev"er*ance\, n.
   1. The act of severing, or the state of being severed;
      partition; separation. --Milman.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Law) The act of dividing; the singling or severing of two
      or more that join, or are joined, in one writ; the putting
      in several or separate pleas or answers by two or more
      disjointly; the destruction of the unity of interest in a
      joint estate. --Bouvier.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Severance, CO (town, FIPS 69150)
  Location: 40.52241 N, 104.84961 W
  Population (1990): 106 (46 housing units)
  Area: 0.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Severance, KS (city, FIPS 64025)
  Location: 39.76686 N, 95.24885 W
  Population (1990): 98 (53 housing units)
  Area: 0.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
  Zip code(s): 66087
Severance, NY
  Zip code(s): 12872
    

Severance, CO -- U.S. town in Colorado
   Population (2000):    597
   Housing Units (2000): 207
   Land area (2000):     2.069528 sq. miles (5.360053 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.065733 sq. miles (0.170248 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    2.135261 sq. miles (5.530301 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            69150
   Located within:       Colorado (CO), FIPS 08
   Location:             40.535208 N, 104.850761 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):    
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Severance, CO
    Severance
    

Severance, KS -- U.S. city in Kansas
   Population (2000):    108
   Housing Units (2000): 53
   Land area (2000):     0.128303 sq. miles (0.332303 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    0.128303 sq. miles (0.332303 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            64025
   Located within:       Kansas (KS), FIPS 20
   Location:             39.767644 N, 95.250303 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     66087
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Severance, KS
    Severance
    

SEVERANCE, pleading. When an action is brought in the name of several 
plaintiffs, in which the plaintiffs must of necessity join, and one or more 
of the persons so named do not appear, or make default after appearance, the 
other may have judgment of severance, or, as it is technically called, 
judgment ad sequendum solum. 
     2. But in personal actions, with the exception of those by executors, 
and of detinue for charters, there can be no summons and severance. Co. Lit. 
139. 
     3. After severance, the party severed can never be mentioned in the 
suit, nor derive any advantage from it. 
     4. When there are several defendants, each of them may use such plea 
as, he may think proper for his own defence; and they may join in the same 
plea, or sever at their discretion; Co. Litt. 303, a except perhaps, in the 
case of dilatory pleas. Hob. 245, 250. But when the defendants have once 
united in the plea, they cannot afterwards sever at the rejoinder, or other 
later stage of the pleading. Vide, generally, Bro. Summ. and Sev.; 2 Rolle, 
488; Archb. Civ. Pl. 59. 
    

SEVERANCE, estates. The act by which any one of the unities of a joint 
tenancy is effected, is so called; because the estate is no longer a joint 
tenancy, but is severed. 
     2. A severance may be effected in various ways, namely: 1. By 
partition, which is either voluntary or compulsory. 2. By alienation of one 
of the joint tenants, which turns the estate into a tenancy in common. 3. By 
the purchase or descent of all the shares of the joint tenants, so that the 
whole estate becomes vested in one only. Com. Dig. Estates by Grant, K 5; 1 
Binn. R. 175. 

     3. In another and a less technical sense, severance is the separation 
of a part of a thing from another; for example, the separation of machinery 
from a mill, is a severance, and, in that case, the machinery which while 
annexed to the mill was real estate, becomes by the severance; personalty, 
unless such severance be merely temporary. 8 Wend. R. 587. 
    

69 Moby Thesaurus words for "severance":
      abscission, alteration, amputation, analysis, anatomization,
      atomization, butchering, change, chopping, clearance, cleavage,
      cutting, demarcation, deportation, desynonymization, detachment,
      dichotomy, differencing, differentiation, discard, discrimination,
      disequalization, disjunction, disposal, disposition, distinction,
      distinguishment, diversification, division, ejection, elimination,
      enucleation, eradication, excision, exile, expatriation, expulsion,
      fission, individualization, individuation, laceration, liquidation,
      modification, mutilation, ostracism, outlawing, outlawry,
      particularization, personalization, purge, removal, rending,
      resection, riddance, ripping, scission, section, segregation,
      separation, severalization, slashing, slicing, specialization,
      splitting, surgery, suspension, tearing, variation, withdrawal