n. [ From Malay. ] (Bot.) The grasscloth plant (Bœhmeria nivea); also, its fiber, which is very fine and exceedingly strong; -- called also China grass, and rhea. See Grass-cloth plant, under Grass. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. ramification. See Ramify. ] 1. The process of branching, or the development of branches or offshoots from a stem; also, the mode of their arrangement. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A small branch or offshoot proceeding from a main stock or channel; as, the ramifications of an artery, vein, or nerve. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A division into principal and subordinate classes, heads, or departments; also, one of the subordinate parts; as, the ramifications of a subject or scheme. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The production of branchlike figures. Crabb. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ramus branch + flos, floris, flower. ] (Bot.) Flowering on the branches. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ramus branch + -form. ] (Bot.) Having the form of a branch. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ramified p. pr. & vb. n. Ramifying ] [ F. ramifier, LL. ramificare, fr. L. ramus a branch + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy. ] To divide into branches or subdivisions; as, to ramify an art, subject, scheme. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To shoot, or divide, into branches or subdivisions, as the stem of a plant. [ 1913 Webster ]

When they [ asparagus plants ] . . . begin to ramify. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be divided or subdivided, as a main subject. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ramus a branch + -gerous. ] (Bot.) Bearing branches; branched. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ramus + parere to bear. ] (Bot.) Producing branches; ramigerous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A follower of Pierre Ramé, better known as Ramus, a celebrated French scholar, who was professor of rhetoric and philosophy at Paris in the reign of Henry II., and opposed the Aristotelians. [ 1913 Webster ]