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.