▪ I. associate, ppl. a. and n.
(əˈsəʊʃɪət)
Also 4 -cyat, 6–8 -ciat, 7 assotiate.
[ad. L. associātus, pa. pple. of as-, ad-sociāre to join together with, f. ad to + socius sharing, united, allied. Used at first as pa. pple. of the vb. associate; see next.]
A. ppl. a. = associated.
1. Joined in companionship, function, or dignity.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. v. (1495) 32 Angels ben..assocyat and couplyd togyders in the joyefull companye of god. 1590 Marlowe Edw. II, iv. iii, With him is Edmund gone associate? 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1638) 33 Christ our Sauiour, equall and associate to his Father. 1822 N. Amer. Rev. XIV. 51 M. Stuart, Associate Professor of Sacred Literature in the Theological Seminary at Andover. 1844 Brougham Brit. Const. xix. §6 (1862) 377 The Supreme Court..is composed of a president and six associate judges. 1896 J. L. Ford Lit. Shop (ed. 3) vi. 62 Mr. Johnson..in his capacity of associate editor of the Century Magazine. 1900 Daily News 14 Nov. 6/3 Associate-editor of the ‘Engineer’. 1905 N.Y. Even. Post 25 Dec., The additional class is that of associate professors. All assistant professors under the old order were made ‘associate’. 1931 H. F. Pringle T. Roosevelt ii. xii. 432 The Outlook office where the ex-President was an associate editor. |
2. Joined in league, allied, confederate.
| 1600 Holland Livy xxv. xiii. 556 All the associate and confederate [sociis] cities thereabout. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 395 While I..Descend through Darkness..To my associate Powers. 1725 Pope Odyss. xvi. 367 Amphinomus survey'd th' associate band. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc ix, If ought of patriot enterprise required Associate firmness. |
3. United in the same group or category, allied; concomitant.
| 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 90 ¶9 They want some associate sounds to make them harmonious. 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 407 Faith, understood in the most comprehensive sense, as including the two associate virtues. 1880 Garretson (title) A System of Oral Surgery..Surgery of the Mouth, Jaws, and Associate Parts. |
B. n. [the adj. used absolutely.]
1. One who is united to another by community of interest, and shares with him in enterprise, business, or action; a partner, comrade, companion.
| 1533 More Apol. xliv. Wks. 914/2, I woulde not greatly wish to be..their associate in anye suche confederacies. 1663 Gerbier Counsel B v b, Collonel Rushner and his assotiates in Holland, their proposals concerning waterworks. 1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 200 My dear associates, here indulge your rest. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 651 These men, more wretched than their associates who suffered death. |
2. A companion in arms, ally, confederate.
| 1548 Grafton Chron. Edw. III an. 12 (R.) For the receyuing of him, his associates and armie. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 39 This hapned the yeare before the war of our Associates. 1849 W. Irving Mahomed's Succ. vii. (1853) 26 His associates soon turned the tide of the battle. |
3. One who shares an office or position of authority with another; a colleague, coadjutor. spec. An officer of the Superior Courts of Common Law in England, ‘whose duties are to superintend the entering of causes, to attend sittings at nisi prius, and there receive and enter verdicts,’ etc. (Warton.)
(In accordance with the statutes of Edward I and Edward II, the commissions of the judges on circuit were accompanied by writs of association, directing certain persons (usually the clerk of assize and his subordinate officers) to associate themselves with the justices and serjeants in order to take the assizes. (Stephens.) Up to 1879 there were 3 Associates in London, and 8 in the provinces, one for each Circuit. By the Supreme Court of Judicature Act of that year, the Associates in London were abolished, and made Masters of the Supreme Court. Their clerical duties are now carried out by the Associates Department of the Supreme Court.)
| 1552 Huloet, Associat in auctoritie, or put in ioynt commissioun, Assessor. a 1586 Sidney (J.) They persuade the king..to make Plangus his associate in government. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2014/6 The Mayor, Associate, Justices of the Peace, Aldermen. 1862 Archbold Practice (Prentice) I. 15 (ed. 13) There is an Associate in each Division appointed by the Chief Justice and Chief Baron respectively. |
4. One who is frequently in company with another, on terms of social equality and intimacy; an intimate acquaintance, companion, mate.
| 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. A vj, No meane Cumrades, no base associates. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 41 One of my Lords most intimate associates. 1851 Helps Friends in C. I. 111 We become familiar with the upper views, tastes, and tempers of our associates. |
5. One who belongs to an association or institution in a subordinate degree of membership, without the honours and privileges of a full member or ‘Fellow.’
Commonly expressed by A.: as A.R.A., Associate of the Royal Academy, A.L.S. Associate of the Linnæan Society.
| 1812 Examiner 9 Nov. 714/2 [They] have..been elected Associates of the Royal Academy. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xix. 207 The eight foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences. |
6. A thing placed or found in conjunction with another.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. 24 A way to make wood perpetual, and a fit associat for metal. 1879 G. Gladstone in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 111/1 It is an almost constant associate of lead that we look for our supply of British silver. |
7. Psychol. An idea, or other mental content, connected with another by any of the forms of association.
| 1700 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxxiii. §5 (R.) The one [idea] no sooner at any time comes into the understanding but its associate appears with it. 1880 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 207 In the trance-subject's mind any simple suggestion will be both believed and acted on, because none of its usual associates are awakened. 1931 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XXI. 279 The effect of partial elimination of associates on order of precedence in respect of memory. |
▪ II. associate, v.
(əˈsəʊʃɪeɪt)
Also 5 -siat.
[f. prec.: the pa. pple. and pa. tense associat(e were in use before the present tense, or the pa. tense and pple. associated. Cf. the earlier associe from Fr.]
1. trans. To join (persons, or one person with (to arch.) another), in (to obs.) common purpose, action, or condition; to link together, unite, combine, ally, confederate.
| 1398 [see associate ppl. a. 1.] 1494 Fabyan v. cxxvii. 107 He..associate vnto hym certeyn wanton persones. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark viii. 34 (R.) Yf he intende to be associate wyth me in blisse. 1561 T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. Table Quot., She was associated unto him in marriage. 1642 Rogers Naaman 436 To associate him to the worke which himselfe and Paul went about. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 72 None but papists are associated against him. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. xvi. 394 The troops..associating to them all the disorderly people. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) iv. 232 Arnulf associated his son with him in his government. |
b. To elect as associate: see associate n. 5.
| 1806 Southey in Ann. Rev. IV. 582 He..was associated to the royal Academy there. 1859 Allibone Biogr. Dict. I. 43/1 The Royal College of Physicians associated him [Akenside] as a licentiate. |
2. trans. To join, combine in action, unite (things together, or one thing with another). (Mostly refl. or pass.)
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 70 The thyrd veyne of the ventricle is very small, not associated with any Arterie. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys.-Mech. Digress. 352 The inspired Air..does there associate it self with the Exhalations of the circulating Blood. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 158 ¶7 Faults are endured without disgust when they are associated with transcendent merit. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. i. §7 The muscles..act in groups, being associated together by the organization of the nervous centres. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 72 This vapour is intimately associated with the other constituents of the atmosphere. |
b. To connect in idea.
| 1760 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1859) I. 110 They associate the ideas of pain to those lessons. 1850 M{supc}Cosh Div. Govt. i. iii. (1874) 64 The very name of God is associated in the human mind with fear. 1870 M. Conway Earthw. Pilgr. xvii. 213 Who could associate rose-leaves with hell-fires? |
3. refl. in sense of 4. Const. as in 1, 2.
| 1494 Fabyan vi. ccxii. 228 Algarus..the whiche assosiat hym with Gryffyne, kynge or duke of Walys. 1611 Bible Isa. viii. 9 Associate your selues, O ye people, and yee shalbe broken in pieces. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, III. xi. 340 He associated himself as a member of their fraternity. 1788–94 Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) I. 2 By associating ourselves to the authors of our existence. |
b. To make oneself a partner in (a matter).
| 1881 Gladstone in Times 17 May 7/3 It is for me..to associate myself with the answer previously given by the Under-Secretary. |
4. intr. a. To combine for a common purpose, to join or form an association.
| 1653 Baxter Chr. Concord. 107 Those Congregations whose Ministers refuse to Associate. 1770 Burke Pres. Discont., When bad men combine, good men must associate. 1832 H. Martineau Ireland i. 8 As many as..sixteen tenants associated in one lease. |
b. To keep company or have intercourse (with).
| 1644 Milton Judgm. Bucer (1851) 313 Any dishonest associating they permit. 1728 Thomson Winter 205 Let me associate with the serious night. 1754 Chatham Lett. Nephew iv. 20 Be sure to associate with men much older than yourself. 1868 Geo. Eliot F. Holt 40 The Rector..associated only with county people. |
† 5. trans. To join oneself to (a person): a. To accompany, escort, attend. Obs.
| 1548 Hall Chron. Hen. VII an. 34 (R.) He shoulde have associated him in hys iourney. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. ii. 5 A bare-foote Brother..to associate me, Here in this Citie visiting the sick. 1609 Man in Moone (1857) 108 The Parasite, associating the Glutton to the gate, entereth. 1657 Brome Queene's Exch. iii. 499 And who associates him? |
† b. To keep company or consort with. Obs.
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 1108 Therfore shal man leaue father and mother and associate his wife. 1590 J. Greenwood in Confer. iii. 63 If I associat a theife & Communicate in his euill. |
† c. To act as associate or assistant to. Obs.
| 1627 Smith Seaman's Gram. viii. 36 The Lieutenant is to associate the Captaine. |
† d. of things: (cf. 2.) To accompany, join.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 70 The Arterie associatyng this veyne. 1613 Heywood Braz. Age i. Wks. 1874 III. 181 Those torturing pangues That should associate death. 1691 Ray Creation (1714) 277 It is necessary that the large trunks of the Veins and Arteries should not associate each other. |