Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To place in a friendly association, as by treaty.
  • intransitive verb To unite or connect in a personal relationship, as in friendship or marriage.
  • intransitive verb To enter into an alliance.
  • noun One that is allied with another, especially by treaty.
  • noun One in helpful association with another: synonym: partner.
  • noun An animal that cooperates with another animal of the same species in an alliance.
  • noun The nations allied against the Central Powers of Europe during World War I. They were Russia, France, Great Britain, and later many others, including the United States.
  • noun The nations, primarily Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States, allied against the Axis during World War II.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To unite by marriage, treaty, league, or confederacy; connect by formal agreement: generally used in the passive or with reflexive pronouns.
  • To bind together; connect, as by resemblance or friendship.
  • To join or unite; enter into alliance.
  • noun See alley.
  • noun A former spelling of alley.
  • noun One united or associated with another by kinship, treaty, or league; a confederate; more particularly, a sovereign or state connected with another by league offensive and defensive, or a subject or citizen of such sovereign or state.
  • noun An auxiliary; an associate or friend.
  • noun In zoology, an animal more or less closely related to another in respect to morphological characters, and placed in the same alliance (which see).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A relative; a kinsman.
  • noun One united to another by treaty or league; -- usually applied to sovereigns or states; a confederate.
  • noun Anything associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary.
  • noun Anything akin to another by structure, etc.
  • noun See alley, a marble or taw.
  • transitive verb To unite, or form a connection between, as between families by marriage, or between princes and states by treaty, league, or confederacy; -- often followed by to or with.
  • transitive verb To connect or form a relation between by similitude, resemblance, friendship, or love.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative form of alley. (a glass marble or taw)
  • verb transitive To unite, or form a connection between, as between families by marriage, or between princes and states by treaty, league, or confederacy
  • verb transitive To connect or form a relation between by similitude, resemblance, friendship, or love.
  • noun One united to another by treaty or league; — usually applied to sovereigns or states; a confederate.
  • noun Anything associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary.
  • noun Anything akin to another by structure, etc.
  • noun taxonomy A closely related species, usually within the same family.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb become an ally or associate, as by a treaty or marriage
  • noun a friendly nation
  • noun an associate who provides cooperation or assistance

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English allien, from Old French alier, from Latin alligāre, to bind to; see alloy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Diminutive of alabaster.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English alien, Old French alier (Modern French allier), from Latin alligō ("to bind to"), from ad ("to") + ligō. Compare alligate, allay, alloy and ligament.

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