detach Definition

detach
verb detaches, detached, detaching

tr & intr
1. To unfasten or separate.

Thesaurus: remove, sever, cut off, disconnect, divide, separate, disengage, uncouple; Antonym: attach.
2. military.
To select and separate (a group of soldiers, etc) from a larger group, especially to carry out a special task.

Derivative: detachable
adj

Etymology: 17c in these senses; 16c, meaning ‘to discharge (a weapon)': from French destachier, from des- dis- + atachier to attach.