The Collaborative International Dictionary
Divide \Di*vide"\, n. A dividing ridge of land between the tributaries of two streams; also called watershed and water parting. A divide on either side of which the waters drain into two different oceans is called a continental divide.
Wiktionary
n. A line of elevated terrain that divides a watershed or a continent, so that water flowing on either side eventually travel to separate bodies of water.
WordNet
n. the watershed of a continent (especially the watershed of North America formed by a series of mountain ridges)
Wikipedia
Continental Divide is a 1981 American romantic comedy, starring John Belushi and Blair Brown. It was directed by Michael Apted from an original screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, and executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Bernie Brillstein. Brown was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.
An attempt was made during the promotional phase of the film's release to sell Belushi and Brown as "the new Hepburn and Tracy", calling to mind the gutsy creative chemistry and double-act performances of those yesteryear actors. This impression was not successfully carried off and Belushi's death less than six months after the film's release ensured that potential would never be.
This was the first film from Spielberg's production company Amblin Entertainment.
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea.
The endpoints where a continental divide meets the coast are not always definite, because the exact border between adjacent bodies of water is usually not clearly defined. The International Hydrographic Organization's publication Limits of Oceans and Seas defines exact boundaries of oceans, but it is not universally recognized. Where a continental divide meets an endorheic basin, such as the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming, the continental divide splits and encircles the basin.
Usage examples of "continental divide".
The hunting grounds those Indians signed for in good faith straddle the Continental Divide down yonder.
For one thing, he'd been on flat ground in the Midwest, not slogging his way up through a gap in the Continental Divide.
She dreamed she was in some high cold pass in the middle of the Rockies, west of the Continental Divide.
Then as we headed toward the Continental Divide the rivers became wider with the spring runoff, roiling in the center, flooding the trees along the banks, and the mountains in the distance tumbled higher and higher against the sky, their crests still packed with snow, the slopes covered with ponderosa pine and Douglas fir and blue spruce.
Sustained at forty to fifty kilometers per hour directly out of the south, the wind was drawing a continual supply of hot, dry air all the way from the wastes of Mexico and funneling it right up here along the western side of the Continental Divide.
I could see the Continental Divide off to the west, and Four Mile Canyon to the north.
Two others, and these were brand new in every way, were still being constructed atop the continental divide near Summit Heights and out at sea in the center of the Isla del Rey.
While wandering around up there we'll also cover the Flattop Mountain Trail from below Fifty Mountain Camp to the middle of the Waterton Valley and the West Flattop Mountain Trail from the continental divide to Dixon Glacier.
We traveled very leisurely, having more than a week to reach Wace, Continental Divide, where she passionately desired to see he Ceremonial Dances marking the seasonal opening of Magic Cave, and at least three weeks to reach Elphinstone, gem of a western State where she yearned to climb Red Rock from which a mature screen star had recently jumped to her death after a drunken row with her gigolo.