▪ I. co-operate, v.
(kəʊˈɒpəreɪt)
[f. L. cooperāt- ppl. stem of cooperārī to work together, f. co(m)- (see co-) + operārī to work.]
1. intr. To work together, act in conjunction (with another person or thing, to an end or purpose, or in a work): a. of persons.
| 1616 Bullokar, Cooperate, to worke together, to helpe. 1625 Ussher Answ. Jesuit 128 Man..cooperateth with man unto repentance. 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. ii. iv. 136 Though he doe not cooperate to his owne destruction. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. cxxi, It is..difficult to induce a number of free beings to co-operate for their mutual benefit. 1809 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. IV. 402 That the British army should cross the Tagus..and co-operate..in an attack upon Victor. 1876 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. i. ii. 54 The Turk began his career in Christian history by coöperating with a Christian Emperor. 1879 Spectator 7 June 719 Living in communities and co-operating in labour. |
b. Of things: To concur in producing an effect.
| 1604 N. D. 3rd Pt. Three Conversions Eng. 121 Free will..can cooperatt nothing at all. 1635 Quarles Embl. v. xv. (1718) 307 All things co-operate for the best. 1744 Harris Three Treat. ii. vi. (1765) 98 Here a double Force is made co-operate to one End. 1828 W. Sewell Oxf. Prize Ess. 9 Vanity cooperated with taste. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 707 If sunlight and chlorophyll do not cooperate to produce new formative material by assimilation. |
2. intr. To practise economic co-operation.
| 1830 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 217 If the rats were to be advised to economize or to ‘co-operate’. 1880 McCarthy Own Times IV. 175 Why should they not also co-operate for the purpose of supplying each other with good and cheap food and clothing? |
Hence co-ˈoperating vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. Pref., Some cooperating advancers. 1680 tr. Buchanan's De Jure Regni (1689) 8 There must be a mutual Cooperating for the good of the whole. 1821 Shelley in Four C. Eng. Lett. 508 Various, yet co-operating reasons. |
▪ II. co-operate, a.
(kəʊˈɒpərət)
[ad. L. cooperātus, pa. pple. of cooperārī to work together; the suffix is app. used as in corporate.]
Caused to co-operate; brought into co-operation.
| 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. xiii. (ed. 3) 175 The system of co-operation or co-operate industry. 1885 Pall Mall G. 26 Oct. 12/2 You want the co-operate knowledge of political economy and sound critical ability of Mr. A. |