distribute

v 1: administer or bestow, as in small portions; "administer

critical remarks to everyone present"; "dole out some

money"; "shell out pocket money for the children"; "deal

a blow to someone" [syn: {administer}, {mete out}, {deal},

{parcel out}, {lot}, {dispense}, {shell out}, {deal out},

{dish out}, {allot}, {dole out}]

2: distribute or disperse widely; "The invaders spread their

language all over the country" [syn: {spread}] [ant: {gather}]

3: make available; "The publisher wants to distribute the book

in Asia"

4: give out freely [syn: {give away}, {give out}, {hand out}]

5: cause to be distributed; "This letter is circulating among

the faculty" [syn: {circulate}, {pass around}, {pass on}]

6: as of information [syn: {circulate}, {circularize}, {circularise},

{disseminate}, {propagate}, {broadcast}, {spread}, {diffuse},

{disperse}, {pass around}]

7: to arrange in a stack or pile; "stagger the chairs in the

lecture hall" [syn: {stack}, {stagger}]

distribution

1. A software source tree packaged for

distribution; but see {kit}.

2. A vague term encompassing {mailing list}s and

{Usenet} {newsgroup}s (but not {BBS} {fora}); any

topic-oriented message channel with multiple recipients.

3. An information-space domain (usually loosely

correlated with geography) to which propagation of a {Usenet}

message is restricted; a much-underused feature.

[{Jargon File}]