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.

  • noun See alley.
  • 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 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).
  • noun A former spelling of alley.

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.
  • 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.
  • noun See alley, a marble or taw.

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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