compartment

First attested 1564, from Middle French compartiment, from Italian compartimento, from Late Latin compartiri (“to divide with, to share with”), from com- + partiri (“to apportion, to divide, to share”)

• IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɑː(ɹ)tmənt/

compartment (plural compartments)

1. A room, or section, or chamber

   Two men were seated in a well-lighted compartment of a third-class railway carriage.

2. One of the parts into which an area is subdivided.
3. (biochemistry) Part of a protein that serves a specific function.
4. (heraldry) A mound (often of grass) beneath the shield in a coat of arms on which the supporters stand.
5. (anatomy) A region in the body, delimited by a biological membrane.

• engine compartment

compartment (third-person singular simple present compartments, present participle compartmenting, simple past and past participle compartmented)

1. (transitive) To arrange in separate compartments.