From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Alliance \Al*li"ance\, v. t.
To connect by alliance; to ally. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Alliance \Al*li"ance\, n. [OE. aliaunce, OF. aliance, F.
alliance, fr. OF. alier, F. allier. See Ally, and cf. LL.
alligantia.]
1. The state of being allied; the act of allying or uniting;
a union or connection of interests between families,
states, parties, etc., especially between families by
marriage and states by compact, treaty, or league; as,
matrimonial alliances; an alliance between church and
state; an alliance between France and England.
[1913 Webster]
2. Any union resembling that of families or states; union by
relationship in qualities; affinity.
[1913 Webster]
The alliance of the principles of the world with
those of the gospel. --C. J. Smith.
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The alliance . . . between logic and metaphysics.
--Mansel.
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3. The persons or parties allied. --Udall.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Connection; affinity; union; confederacy; confederation;
league; coalition.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
alliance
n 1: the state of being allied or confederated [syn: alliance,
confederation]
2: a connection based on kinship or marriage or common interest;
"the shifting alliances within a large family"; "their
friendship constitutes a powerful bond between them" [syn:
alliance, bond]
3: an organization of people (or countries) involved in a pact
or treaty [syn: alliance, coalition, alignment,
alinement] [ant: nonalignment, nonalinement]
4: a formal agreement establishing an association or alliance
between nations or other groups to achieve a particular aim
5: the act of forming an alliance or confederation [syn:
confederation, alliance]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
ALLIANCE
<tool> A complete set of CAD tools for teaching Digital
CMOS VLSI Design in Universities. It includes a VHDL
compiler and simulator, logic synthesis tools, and automatic
place and route tools. ALLIANCE is the result of a ten years
effort at University Pierre et Marie Curie (PARIS VI, France).
It runs on Sun-4, not well supported: MIPS/Ultrix,
386/SystemV.
Latest version: 1.1, as of 1993-02-16.
(1993-02-16)