Branch

n. [Fr. branche, Pr., O. Sp., O. Pg., It., & L. Lat. branca, Pr. also branc, m., Ger. branche, claw. Armor. brank, branch, bough, Ir. & Gael. brac, W. braich, arm.]

1. (Bot.) A shoot of a tree or other plant; a limb; a bough growing from a stem, or from another branch or bough.
2. Any arm or part shooting or extended from the main body of a thing, as a smaller stream running into a larger one, or proceeding from it; a ramification.

Most of the branches, or streams, were dried up. W. Irving.

3. Any member or part of a body or system; a distinct article; a section or subdivision; a department, as of science. “Branches of knowledge.” Prescott.
4. A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line; as, the English or the Irish branch of a family. “His father, a younger branch of the ancient stock.” Carew.
5. (Law.) A warrant or commission given to a pilot.
6. A chandelier. Ash.

Branches of a bridle, two pieces of bent iron, which bear the bit, the cross chains, and the curb.—Branches of ogives (Arch.), the arches of Gothic vaults, traversing from one angle to another diagonally, and forming a cross between the other arches, which make the sides of the square, of which these arches are diagonals. Harris.