▪ I. attach, v.
(əˈtætʃ)
Also 4 atache, 4–7 attache. Sc. 6 atteche, atteiche.
[a. OF. atachie-r (mod. attacher), cogn. with It. attaccare, Sp. atacar; f. à to, at + a radical which is found also in détacher detach, and is connected by Diez and Littré with the Genevese tache, Sp., Pg. tacha, a round-headed nail, a tack, q.v. Thus lit. ‘to tack to.’ See Diez, Littré, Skeat.
The development of signification seems to have been thus: 1. The regular OF. sense was ‘to fasten,’ as in mod.Eng., where however this sense is of quite recent adoption from mod.F. 2. The earlier Eng. sense of ‘arrest, seize,’ arose in AF. and Eng., as an elliptical expression for ‘attach by some tie to the control or jurisdiction of a court,’ i.e. so that it shall have a hold on the party. A man might thus be attaché or ‘nailed,’ par le cors by his body, par ses avers et par ses chateus by his goods and chattels, par pleges by sureties for his appearance (Britton). In the first two cases the attachment consisted in arrest and detention. 3. The It. equivalent is attaccare: in the 16th c. the It. attaccare battaglia to join battle, attaccarsi a to fasten (oneself) upon, ‘attack,’ was first imitated with F. attacher, and then adapted in Fr. as attaquer; whence Eng. attack, and occasional 17th c. use of attach (see 4 infra).]
I. To arrest, lay hold of, seize, ‘nail’; indict.
1. Law. To secure for legal jurisdiction and disposal, to place or take under the control of a court; to arrest or seize by authority of a writ of attachment: a. a person. (See quot. 1691.)
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 212 Eke wepte and wrong hire hondes whon heo was a-tachet. c 1380 Sir Ferumbr. 4517 ‘Ribaux,’ saide he, ‘ich ȝow attache, Aȝeld ȝow anon to me.’ 1531–2 Act 23 Hen. VIII, ii, Euery shiriffe..shall attache the saide offenders. 1581 Acts Jas. VI (1814) 226 (Jam.) Power to atteiche and arreist the personis transgressouris. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 6 Therefore make present satisfaction, Or Ile attach you by this Officer. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 108 Often they attach poore innocents, when they cannot apprehend the guiltie. 1691 Blount Law Dict. s.v. Attach, He, who Arrests, carries the party Arrested to another higher person to be disposed of forthwith; he that attacheth, keeps the party attached, and presents him in Court at the day assigned in the Attachment. 1814 Scott Wav. xxxi, The means..of attaching this suspicious and formidable delinquent. |
Const. for, of.
| 1494 Fabyan vii. 415 Guy, his sone, was attachyd for the same and sent to pryson. 1649 Milton Eikon. 83 The Peers gave..thir consent..to attaching the Bishops of High Treason. 1715 Burnet Hist. Ref., He was attached of heresy. 1823 Scott Peveril v, I attach thee of the crime of which thou hast but now made thy boast. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos II. xvii. 183 The Earl Marshal attached Gloucester for high treason. |
b. property, goods.
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 158 Þe godes attached waren to þe kyng of Cipres Isaac. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 28 If any of these sayde officers fynde any maner of catell..they maye attache theym and cease theym as streyes. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 95 France..hath attach'd Our Merchants goods at Burdeux. 1853 Wharton Pa. Digest 168. §66 Choses in action of the wife cannot be attached for the husband's debt. 1882 C. Sweet Dict. Law Terms s.v. Attachment, To attach property is to seize it, or place it under the control of a Court. |
† 2. To indict before a tribunal, accuse, charge.
| c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 34 Be thou attached with thift or with treason..Thy cheer changes. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 266 Welcum celestiall myrrour and aspy, Attechyng all that hantis sluggardy! 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) K k viij, They wolde..elles attache vs for fooles. 1589 Nashe Anat. Absurd. 36 They shall not easily be attached of any notable absurditie. 1653 M. Carter Hon. Rediv. (1660) 81 In which Parliament, the King attaches Earl Godwin, for that he had kil'd his Brother. |
† 3. transf. To seize, lay hold of. a. Said fig. of death, sickness, love, passion, misfortune. Obs.
| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) A iv, If they had bene..attached with envy and covaytise. 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. iii. xix. §13 Hastely shall death attache them. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 5, I..am my selfe attach'd with wearinesse. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 173 A sore sickness attached or attacked him. |
† b. lit. To seize with hands, claws, or talons. Obs.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 375 Euery man attach the hand Of his faire Mistresse. 1611 J. Guillim Heraldrie iii. xv. 137 The Lion..lesse able to attach and rend his Prey. 1649 Selden Laws of Eng. i. lxvi. (1739) 144 The strength of the Canon-Law growing to its full pitch, after a long chase attached the prey. |
II. † 4. To attack. Obs. (So in 16th c. F. from It.)
| 1627 Lisander & Cal. iii. 41 The Archduke threatned to attach Reyne Berk with a siege. 1666 Killigrew Urbin v, The walls are every where attach'd. |
III. trans. To tack on, fasten, affix, connect.
5. a. To tack on; to fasten or join (a thing to another, or to a spot), by tacking, hooking on, tying, stitching, sticking, etc.
| 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. viii. (1827) 458/2 The shoulder⁓blade..is bedded in the flesh; attached only to the muscles. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xix, The hundred points or latchets which were the means of attaching the doublet to the hose. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 201 A huge stone, to which the cable..was attached. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 77 By attaching to the apparatus a tube which dips beneath water. 1879 G. Fennell in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 76/2 The young of the oyster..attach themselves immediately to the first clean, hard substance they meet with. |
† b. To fasten (the eyes), keep fixed on an object.
| 1663 Gerbier Counsel C v a, I did not attach my Eyes onely on the generallity of Objects, but did exactly consider some particulars worthy of note. |
6. a. To connect or join on functionally (e.g. a person to a company, expedition, etc.) Often refl.
| ? a 1700 Rogers (J.) The great and rich depend on those whom their power or their wealth attaches to them. 1781 Cowper Charity 16 God..By various ties attaches man to man. 1808 Scott Mem. in Lockhart i. (1842) 16/2 That I should seriously consider to which department of the law I was to attach myself. 1873 Tristram Moab i. 8 A Bedouin who had attached himself to us. 1876 Green Short Hist. ii. §7 (1882) 95 The second attached himself to the Dukes of France. |
b. Mil. and Naval. To allocate for service to a particular unit: chiefly pass.
| 1802 C. James Milit. Dict. s.v., Officers and non-commissioned officers are said to be attached to the..army, regiment, [etc.]..with which they are appointed to act. 1909 Regs. for Mobilization 8 The equipment..which he would take with him when transferred or attached to another unit. |
7. a. To join in sympathy or affection to a person, place, etc. Often in pass. to be attached to.
| 1765 Goldsm. Ess. 14 (L.) To form the manners and attach the mind to virtue. 1816 Jane Austen Emma iii. x. 341 When I was very much disposed to be attached to him. 1833 H. Martineau Brooke F. ix. 109 How she kept her father's house in order..how she attached her little brothers to her. 1853 Lytton My Novel ix. viii, I resolved again to attach myself to some living heart. |
b. esp. To cause to adhere to oneself in sympathy or affection; to win or attract the attachment of.
| 1811 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. iii. i. 224 So totally unamiable, so absolutely incapable of attaching a sensible man. 1814 ― Lady Susan xiv. (1879) 230 His account of her attaching Miss Mainwaring's lover. 1861 Pearson E. & Mid. Ages of Eng. xxvi. (L.) Enemies whom no defeat could intimidate, and no peace attach. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. III. ix. iv. 102, I return you all..except Charles Douze, which attaches me infinitely. |
8. a. To fix (anything immaterial) to; to affix a name, description, property, or adjunct of any kind.
| 1812 Examiner 30 Nov. 768/1 A most diabolical attempt to attach the guilt of murder to two men innocent of the crime. 1843 Mill Logic i. vi. §2 Certain properties to which mankind have chosen to attach that name. 1879 B. Taylor Germ. Lit. 111 To this treasure a curse is attached. 1883 E. Payne in Law Times 27 Oct. 432/2 The magistrates' licence..is attached to a particular house. 1884 Sir C. Bowen in Law Times Rep. 12 Apr. 197/1 The liability which English law attaches to contracts. |
b. refl. To fasten itself on; to adhere, cleave, stick to.
| 1861 Mill Utilit. 41 No reason why all these motives..should not attach themselves to the utilitarian morality, as completely..as to any other. 1875 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. v. 51 Legends which attached themselves to the name of Charles the Emperor. |
9. To add or bestow as an attribute, to attribute; to view as pertaining or appropriate to.
| 1837 Disraeli Venetia i. x. (1871) 50 Little credibility..should be attached to such legends. 1855 Prescott Philip II, i. viii. 134 The importance they attached to their own services. 1870 Jevons Elem. Logic xxxiii. 292 Different people attach different meanings to the words. 1879 Lubbock Addr. Pol. & Educ. iii. 49 Only thirteen attach any weight at all to scientific subjects in the examinations. |
IV. intr. (for refl.) To adhere, stick, cling, remain adherent.
10. To fix or fasten itself upon as an obligation or liability; to fall, or come upon, and adhere to.
| 1780 Burke Econ. Ref. Wks. III. 338 It is..just..that the loss should attach upon the delinquency. 1852 M{supc}Culloch Taxation ii. vi. 284 The stamp duties have a tendency to facilitate the transactions on which they attach. 1863 Kinglake Crimea I. 491 Blame attaches upon Lord Aberdeen's Cabinet for yielding. |
11. To adhere to, as an appertaining quality or circumstance; to be incident to (formerly on).
| 1791 Boswell Johnson (1816) I. 233 For that the right of Chieftainship attached to the blood of primogeniture, and, therefore, was incapable of being transferred. 1812 Southey Lett. (1856) II. 312 Without any farther suspicion..than attaches to all works written in an age of physical credulity. 1818 Sir G. Dallas in Parr's Wks. (1828) VII. 191 The just veneration that attaches on your opinions. 1859 Ecce Homo iii. 22 All the advantages which attach to hereditary monarchy. |
12. To take legal effect, come into legal operation in connexion with anything.
| 1818 Colebrooke Obligations i. 93 If the whole obligation do not attach, the whole of it fails. 1829 Southey in Q. Rev. XLI. 385 Wherever they should make their settlement, there the laws of England attached. 1844 Williams Real Prop. Law (1877) 235 The wife's right to dower accordingly attached. 1848 Arnould Mar. Insur. (1866) I. i. i. 16 When the liability of the Underwriter commences, the technical mode of expressing this is by saying that ‘the policy attaches.’ 1876 Digby Real Prop. iii. §ii. 123 To give the tenure the character of tenure by knight-service, and consequently to cause the incidents of wardship and marriage to attach. |
▪ II. † aˈttach, n. Obs.
[f. prec. vb.]
1. The act of laying hold of, apprehension by writ, arrest.
| 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. E vij b, The meanes for my attach. 1607 Heywood Wom. Kilde Wks. 1874 II. 102, I am made the vnwilling instrument of your attach and apprehension. 1641 Termes de la Ley, Attach is a taking or apprehending by command or writ. |
2. fig. A seizure or attack of disease, etc.
| 1674 J. B[rian] Harv.-Home §4. 23 Free from attaches Of sickness, weakness, in no part feel aches. |
3. A tie, attachment; a thing attached.
| 1663 Sir G. Mackenzie Relig. Stoic xiii. (1685) 117 Have the weakest attachs to this life. 1694 Ladies' Dict., An attache is, as much as to say..one thing fasten'd to another. 1742 in Bailey. |