linkage

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act or process of linking.
2. n. The condition of being linked.
3. n. A connection or relation; an association.
4. n. A negotiating policy of making agreement on one issue dependent on progress toward another objective.
5. n. A system of interconnected machine elements, such as rods, springs, and pivots, used to transmit power or motion.
6. n. Electricity A measure of the induced voltage in a circuit caused by a magnetic flux and equal to the flux times the number of turns in the coil that surrounds it.
7. n. Genetics An association between two or more genes such that the traits they control tend to be inherited together.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A system of connected links; a combination of pieces pivoted together so as to turn about one another in parallel planes of rotation. Sometimes the meaning is extended to embrace cases where the motions are not in parallel planes; and such a linkage is termed a solid, as opposed to a plane, linkage.
2. n. The state of being linked together.
3. n. a linkage which has one, two, etc., degrees of freedom more than a complete linkage.
4. n. In chem., the hypothetical connection between two atoms. Same as bond, 11.
5. n. In electricity, the product obtained by-multiplying the magnetic flux through a coil by the number of turns which the coil contains.

Wiktionary

1. n. A mechanical device that connects things.
2. n. A connection or relation between things or ideas.
3. n. genetics The property of genes of being inherited together.
4. n. linguistics A set of definitely related words for which no proto-language can be derived.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of linking; the state of being linked; also, a system of links.
2. n. (Chem.) Manner of linking or of being linked; -- said of the union of atoms or radicals in the molecule.
3. n. (Geom.) A system of straight lines or bars, fastened together by joints, and having certain of their points fixed in a plane. It is used to describe straight lines and curves in the plane.
4. n. Any object, factor, or relationship that creates a bond or association between two other objects.
5. n. (Genetics) The proximity of two or more genes on the genome of an organism that causes those genes to be inherited, transferred, or moved together with a frequency greater than for genes not associated. The linkage is a continuous variable, and is inversely related to the distance between genes on the genome.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an associative relation
2. n. a mechanical system of rods or springs or pivots that transmits power or motion
3. n. the act of linking things together
4. n. (genetics) traits that tend to be inherited together as a consequence of an association between their genes; all of the genes of a given chromosome are linked (where one goes they all go)