From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
attach
v 1: cause to be attached [ant: detach]
2: be attached; be in contact with
3: become attached; "The spider's thread attached to the window
sill" [ant: detach]
4: create social or emotional ties; "The grandparents want to
bond with the child" [syn: bind, tie, bond]
5: take temporary possession of as a security, by legal
authority; "The FBI seized the drugs"; "The customs agents
impounded the illegal shipment"; "The police confiscated
the stolen artwork" [syn: impound, sequester,
confiscate, seize]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Attach \At*tach"\, v. i.
1. To adhere; to be attached.
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The great interest which attaches to the mere
knowledge of these facts cannot be doubted.
--Brougham.
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2. To come into legal operation in connection with anything;
to vest; as, dower will attach. --Cooley.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Attach \At*tach"\, n.
An attachment. [Obs.] --Pope.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Attach \At*tach"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Attached; p. pr. & vb.
n. Attaching.] [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.]
1. 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.
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The shoulder blade is . . . attached only to the
muscles. --Paley.
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A huge stone to which the cable was attached.
--Macaulay.
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2. 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.
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3. 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; as, attached to a friend; attaching
others to us by wealth or flattery.
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Incapable of attaching a sensible man. --Miss
Austen.
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God . . . by various ties attaches man to man.
--Cowper.
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4. To connect, in a figurative sense; to ascribe or
attribute; to affix; -- with to; as, to attach great
importance to a particular circumstance.
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Top this treasure a curse is attached. --Bayard
Taylor.
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5. To take, seize, or lay hold of. [Obs.] --Shak.
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6. To take by legal authority:
(a) To arrest by writ, and bring before a court, as to
answer for a debt, or a contempt; -- applied to a
taking of the person by a civil process; being now
rarely used for the arrest of a criminal.
(b) To seize or take (goods or real estate) by virtue of a
writ or precept to hold the same to satisfy a judgment
which may be rendered in the suit. See Attachment,
4.
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The earl marshal attached Gloucester for high
treason. --Miss Yonge.
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Attached column (Arch.), a column engaged in a wall, so
that only a part of its circumference projects from it.
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Syn: To affix; bind; tie; fasten; connect; conjoin; subjoin;
annex; append; win; gain over; conciliate.
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