Dictionary:

distribution

  (dĭs'trə-byū'shən)

1. The act of distributing or the condition of being distributed; apportionment.
2. Something distributed; an allotment.
3. The act of dispersing or the condition of being dispersed; diffusion.
4. 1. The geographic occurrence or range of an organism.
   2. The geographic occurrence or range of a custom, usage, or other feature.
5. Division into categories; classification.
6. The process of marketing and supplying goods, especially to retailers.
7. A spatial or temporal array of objects or events: the distribution of theaters on Broadway.
8. Law. The division of an estate or property among rightful heirs.
9. Statistics. A set of numbers and their frequency of occurrence collected from measurements over a statistical population.
10. Mathematics. A generalized function used in the study of partial differential equations.

(1) Software ready to install. It often refers to a "Linux distribution," which is the Linux OS combined with installation programs, documentation and various utilities in one package. See Linux distribution.

(2) An English word that means "dissemination" or delivering something.

Magazines: total number of copies distributed of a particular magazine issue. See also circulation.

Merchandising:

1. Extent to which an item of merchandise is carried by retailers relative to the total number of retailers who could carry the item. See also exclusive distribution; open distribution; selective distribution.

2. All elements of the system of delivery of merchandise to customers from the manufacturer or wholesaler, including retailers, brokers, transportation companies, advertising agencies, and so forth; also called distribution channel. See also channel of distribution; middleman.

1. In corporate finance, allocation of income and expenses to the appropriate Subsidiary accounts.

2. In economics, (1) movement of goods from manufacturers, or (2) way in which wealth is shared in any particular economic system.

3. In Estate law, parceling out of assets to the Beneficiaries named in a Will, as carried out by the Executor under the guidance of a court.

4. In Mutual Funds and closed-end investment companies, payout of realized capital gains on securities in the Portfolio of the fund or closed-end investment company.

5. In Securities, sale of a large block of stock in such a manner that the price is not adversely affected. Technical analysts look at a pattern of distribution as a tipoff that the stock will soon fall in price. The opposite of distribution, known as accumulation, may signal a rise in price.

noun

1. The act of distributing or the condition of being distributed: admeasurement, allocation, assignment, apportionment, dispensation, division. See collect/distribute.
2. The passing out or spreading about of something: circulation, dispersal, dispersion, dissemination. See collect/distribute.
3. A way or condition of being arranged: arrangement, categorization, classification, deployment, disposal, disposition, formation, grouping, layout, lineup, order, organization, placement, sequence. See order/disorder.

Definition: allocation, dispersion
Antonyms: collection, gathering, hoard, hoarding, maintenance, store

1. A software source tree packaged for distribution; but see kit. Since about 1996 unqualified use of this term often implies ‘Linux distribution’. The short form distro is often used for this sense.

2. A vague term encompassing mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups (but not BBS fora); any topic-oriented message channel with multiple recipients.

3. An information-space domain (usually loosely correlated with geography) to which propagation of a Usenet message is restricted; a much-underutilized feature.

1. The physical layout of a feature over an area, such as forest land.

2. The function of tertiary industry in delivering goods, that is wholesaling, warehousing, and retailing.

3. The spread of varying observations within a population.

The movement of freshly mixed concrete toward the point of placement, either by motorized tools or by hand.

A distribution is a payment in cash or in property by an entity to the owner of such entity. For example, when a corporation pays a dividend to its shareholder, such payment of a dividend constitutes a corporate distribution. See also descent and distribution; secondary distribution.

corporate distribution a distribution by a corporation to its shareholders. If the corporation has current or accumulated earnings and profits, such distribution constitutes a dividend to the shareholders. To the extent the distribution exceeds earnings and profits, distribution constitutes a return of basis to the shareholder and to the extent that it exceeds basis, such distribution constitutes the equivalent of a receipt of property or cash as a result of a sale or exchange of the stock. I.R.C. §301. A corporate distribution is not deductible by the corporation.

partnership distribution a distribution by a partnership to its partners. A partnership, as a non-taxpaying entity, has all of its income taxed to its partners. It reduces the basis of the partner's interest in the partnership; such distribution is not taxable unless it exceeds the partner's basis. I.R.C. §§705, 731. If the distribution does exceed his basis and is in cash, the partner is taxed as if the distribution were an amount realized from the sale or exchange of the partner's interest in the partnership; if the distribution is of property, it is not taxed to the partner, and the partner receives a carryover basis in the property. I.R.C. §732.

ratable distribution see ratable [ratable distribution].

trust distribution a distribution by a trust to the beneficiaries of the trust. If a trust has current or accumulated income of a character which may be distributable to the beneficiaries [generally, ordinary income] such a distribution is taxed to the beneficiary as ordinary income and deductible by the trust. I.R.C. §§643(a), 651, 652, 661 and 662. If such trust does not have distributable income, then it is considered to be a distribution of corpus to the beneficiaries of the trust and not income to such beneficiaries.

The process of marketing and merchandising goods. Also, the way in which wealth or goods or services are allotted, as in the distribution of wealth.

(DOD) 1. The arrangement of troops for any purpose, such as a battle, march, or maneuver. 2. A planned pattern of projectiles about a point. 3. A planned spread of fire to cover a desired frontage or depth. 4. An official delivery of anything, such as orders or supplies. 5. The operational process of synchronizing all elements of the logistic system to deliver the "right things" to the "right place" at the "right time" to support the geographic combatant commander. 6. The process of assigning military personnel to activities, units, or billets.

Distribution may refer to:

Mathematics / Physics

• Distribution (mathematics), for generalized functions
• Probability distribution
• Frequency distribution
• Distribution function, in physics describes the number of particles per unit volume in phase space.
• Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution
• Distribution (differential geometry), a subbundle of a vector bundle defining the integrability conditions of a set of differential equations.
• Distributed parameter systems, systems that have an infinite-dimensional state-space.

Economics

• Distribution (business)
• Distribution (economics) of income and output
• Distribution of wealth
  • Resource distribution
• Distribution of property
• Food distribution
• Good distribution practice

Computer science

• Distributed computing
• Software distribution
  • Linux distribution
• Distribution (concurrency), the projection operator in a history monoid

Entertainment

• Film distribution
• Record distribution

Other usages

• Complementary distribution, in grammar
• Electricity distribution, in electrical engineering
• Purse distribution, in horse racing
• Distribution (pharmacology)
• Population distribution – how the demographics of a population break down
• Distribution Select, a record label
• Key distribution center
• Trip distribution
• Distribution of terms
• Electronic brakeforce distribution

See also

• Distributor (disambiguation)
• Apportionment
• Range
• Range (biology) the area a species inhabits

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - uddeling, fordeling, udbredelse, sortering, varefordeling, samfundsgodernes fordeling

Nederlands (Dutch)
distributie, verspreiding, uitkering, schenking, verdeling, uitdeling, indeling

Français (French)
n. - distribution, répartition

Deutsch (German)
n. - Verteilung, Austeilung, Vertrieb, Zuteilung, Einteilung, Ausschüttung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - διανομή (σε πλήθος), κατανομή, μοιρασιά, άπλωμα, σκόρπισμα (σε έκταση), εξάπλωση

Italiano (Italian)
versamento, distribuzione, consegna

Português (Portuguese)
n. - distribuição (f), classificação (f)

Русский (Russian)
дистрибуция, распределение, доставка

Español (Spanish)
n. - distribución, reparto, diseminación, dispersión, entrega

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - utdelning, indelning, spridning

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
分配, 配给物, 分发

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 分配, 配給物, 分發

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 공급, 분류, 배열, 유통

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 分配, 配布, 分布, 流通

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) توزيع, توزع, تفريق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חלוקה, תפוצה, התפלגות, הפצה‬

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