attach
/əˈtæt͡ʃ/ verb
Forms attaches attaching attached
- verb (transitive) To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively). “You need to attach the carabiner to your harness.”
- verb (intransitive) To adhere; to be attached.
- verb To include an attachment with a communication (especially an email or other electronic communication). “I've attached the contract to this email.”
- verb To come into legal operation in connection with anything; to vest. “Dower will attach.”
- verb To win the heart of; to connect by ties of love or self-interest; to attract; to fasten or bind by moral influence; with to. “attached to a friend; attaching others to us by wealth or flattery”
- verb To connect, in a figurative sense; to ascribe or attribute; to affix; with to. “to attach great importance to a particular circumstance”
- verb (obsolete) To take, seize, or lay hold of.
- verb (obsolete, law) To arrest, seize.
Synonyms
connect annex affix unite accouple assemble associate bewed bind clasp clinch combine conglomerate conglutinate conjoin construct couple entwine fay fix tie bond impound sequester confiscate seize
Antonyms
detach unfasten disengage separate decouple disconnect rip off tear off unconnect uncouple unhitch
Etymology
From Middle English attachen, from Old French atachier, variant of estachier (“bind”), derived from estache (“stick”), from Frankish *stakkā, *stakō (“stick”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“pole, bar, stick, stake”). Doublet of attack. More at stake, stack.
Displaced native Old English þīedan.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To bind, fasten, tie, or connect; to make fast or join; as, to attach one thing to another by a string, by glue, or the like.
- verb To connect; to place so as to belong; to assign by authority; to appoint; as, an officer is attached to a certain regiment, company, or ship.
- verb To adhere; to be attached.
- verb To come into legal operation in connection with anything; to vest; as, dower will attach. Cooley.
Etymology [OF. atachier, F. attacher, to tie or fasten: cf. Celt. tac, tach, nail, E. tack a small nail, tack to fasten. Cf. Attack, and see Tack.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “attach”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details