conjugation

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of conjugating.
2. n. The state of being conjugated.
3. n. Grammar The inflection of a particular verb.
4. n. Grammar A presentation of the complete set of inflected forms of a verb.
5. n. Grammar A class of verbs having similar inflected forms.
6. n. Biology The temporary union of two bacterial cells during which one cell transfers part or all of its genome to the other.
7. n. Biology A process of sexual reproduction in which ciliate protozoans of the same species temporarily couple and exchange genetic material.
8. n. Biology A process of sexual reproduction in certain algae and fungi in which temporary or permanent fusion occurs, resulting in the union of the male and female gametes.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of uniting or combining; a coming together; union; conjunction; assemblage.
2. n. Ingrammar: The inflection of a verb in its different forms, as voices, moods, tenses, numbers, and persons; a connected scheme of all the derivative forms of a verb.
3. n. A class of verbs similarly conjugated: as, Latin verbs of the third conjugation.
4. n. In Hebrew and other Semitic languages, one of several groups of inflections normally formed from the same verb, and expressing a modification of meaning analogous to that found in certain classes of derivative verbs in Indo-European languages, or to the voices of these. [The latin conjugatio is a translation of the Greek συζυγία, properly derivation, including inflection as well as formation of new words, but afterward limited to the inflection of verbs, which had previously been called simply inflection, or infection of verbs (κλίσις ρ)ημάτων dedinatio verborum).]
5. n. A union or coupling; a combination of two or more individuals. [Obsolete except in specific use. See 4.]
6. n. In biol, a union of two distinct cells for reproduction; a temporary or permanent growing together of two or more individuals or cells, with fusion of their plasmodic substance, as a means of reproduction by germs or spores, or a means of renewing individual capacity to multiply by fission. It is a kind of copulation of the entire bodies of different individuals or cells, with the formation of new nuclei or other form-elements, preparatory to the development of new individuals. It is also called zygosis, and the resulting blended organism is ealled a zygote or zygospore. The process occurs only in the lower animals and plants, among many of which it is an ordinary mode of reproduction. It is very common in protozoans, and has been observed in certain worms. (See Dipiozoon.) A permanent fusion takes place in the unicellular alagœ Diatomaceœ and Desmidiaceœ by the union of the contents of two separate cells; in the Zygnemaceæ and Mesocarpeæ, by that of two cells of different filaments or of the same filament; and in the Zoösporeæ, by that of zoöspores from different mother-cells. The result of the union in each case is called zygospore; the latter produces a plant similar to that from which it came. The process is considered a sexual one, though the cells which unite cannot be distinguished as male and female.

Wiktionary

1. n. The coming together of things.
2. n. The temporary fusion of organisms, especially as part of sexual reproduction
3. n. Sexual relations within marriage
4. n. In some languages, one of several classifications of verbs according to what inflections they take.
5. n. The act of conjugating a verb.
6. n. A system of delocalized orbitals consisting of alternating single bonds and double bonds

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. the act of uniting or combining; union; assemblage.
2. n. Two things conjoined; a pair; a couple.
3. n. The act of conjugating a verb or giving in order its various parts and inflections.
4. n. A scheme in which are arranged all the parts of a verb.
5. n. A class of verbs conjugated in the same manner.
6. n. A kind of sexual union; -- applied to a blending of the contents of two or more cells or individuals in some plants and lower animals, by which new spores or germs are developed.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the state of being joined together
2. n. a class of verbs having the same inflectional forms
3. n. the inflection of verbs
4. n. the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes
5. n. the complete set of inflected forms of a verb
6. n. the act of making or becoming a single unit