Definition of derive
- v. t. - To turn the course of, as water; to divert and
distribute into subordinate channels; to diffuse; to communicate; to
transmit; -- followed by to, into, on, upon.
- v. t. - To receive, as from a source or origin; to obtain by
descent or by transmission; to draw; to deduce; -- followed by from.
- v. t. - To trace the origin, descent, or derivation of; to
recognize transmission of; as, he derives this word from the
Anglo-Saxon.
- v. t. - To obtain one substance from another by actual or
theoretical substitution; as, to derive an organic acid from its
corresponding hydrocarbon.
- v. i. - To flow; to have origin; to descend; to proceed; to be
deduced.