▪ I. connect, v.
(kəˈnɛkt)
[ad. L. connect-ĕre (in classical period, cōnectĕre) to tie, fasten, join together, f. con- together + nectĕre to bind, tie, fasten. Cf. mod.F. connecter (not in Cotgr. 1611). The earlier equivalent was F. connexer, Eng. connex.]
1. trans. To join, fasten, or link together: said either of the personal agent or of the connecting medium or instrumentality. Const. to, with.
| a 1691 Boyle (J.), The corpuscles that constitute the quicksilver will be so connected to one another. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 189 A Right Line connecting the Sun and Earth. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 272 He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 1839 G. Bird Nat. Phil. 4 From e draw lines connecting this point to abcde. 1883 Knowledge 13 July 24/2 The free ends of the coils are all connected to the commutator. Mod. The ancient paved way which connected the two camps can still be traced. The island is connected by telegraph with the mainland. |
| fig. 1537 Inst. Chr. Man E, [The Church] inwardly shall be connected..togither in one godly consent in charitie. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) I. 33, I would fasten [my affections] upon some sweet myrtle, or seek some melancholy cypress to connect myself to. 1798 Malthus Popul. (1817) I. 170 The pastoral tribes of Asia, by living in tents and moveable huts..are still less connected with their territory. |
2. To join together in sequence, order, or coherence (ideas, words, the steps of an argument, the parts of a composition).
| 1678 Hobbes Dec. Phys. i. 14 They [the Hebrews] thought the Names of things sufficiently connected, when they are placed in their natural consequence. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. xvii, The connexion of each intermediate idea with those that it connects. 1755 Johnson, Connect..3. To join in a just series of thought, or regular construction of language: as, the authour connects his reasons well. 1829 Jas. Mill Anal. Hum. Mind (1878) I. iv. §8. 212 The Conjunctions are distinguished from the Prepositions by connecting Predications; while the Prepositions connect Words. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 134 This hint is the thread by which Plato connects the two parts of the dialogue. |
3. a. To associate in occurrence or action. Chiefly pass., To be in necessary or natural association; to have practical relations, have to do with.
| 1709 Berkeley Ess. Vision §58 [To] judge a faint or confused appearance to be..connected with great or little distance. 1753 W. Melmoth Cicero's Lett. xii. xi. (R.), I call him ours; for..I cannot separate myself from any thing with which you are connected. 1788 Bentham Wks. X. 182 A very busy amateur in everything that is in any way connected with mechanics. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 102 On the Advantages and the Pleasures connected with the Study of Botany. |
b. To associate in idea; to view or think of as connected.
| 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 168 ¶6 Who does not..from the long habit of connecting a knife with sordid offices, feel aversion rather than terror? 1840 De Quincey Style ii. Wks. 1890 X. 173 In the earliest states of society, all truth that has any interest or importance for man will connect itself with heaven. 1850 M{supc}Cosh Div. Govt. iv. ii. (1874) 497 The believer in Christ connects his very temporal mercies with the work and sufferings of his Saviour. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 33 To connect them [such irregularities] by way of effect with the new opinions in religion would be impertinent. |
4. a. To unite (a person) with others (by ties of intimacy, common aims, or family relationship). Chiefly pass. and refl.
| 1750 Chesterfield Lett. III. ccxxii. 9 Connect yourself, while you are in France, entirely with the French. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, II. xi. 276 Bishop Williams..was long and secretly connected with the patriotic party. 1835 Macaulay Mackintosh Ess. (1854) I. 335/1 They saw their sovereign..connecting himself by the strongest ties with the most faithless and merciless persecutor. 1863 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 159 People connected with the Court. |
b. To state or establish relationship with.
| 1881 J. Russell Haigs i. 22 The pedigree which professes to connect the De Hagas of the twelfth century with the Pictish sovereigns of the ninth. |
5. a. intr. (for refl.) To become joined or united; to join on.
| 1744 H. Walpole Lett. to Mann 24 Dec., [They] are all of the Granville and Bath squadron except Lord Cholmondeley (who too, had connected with the former). 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) I. 535 One all-comprehensive plan; wherein nothing stands alone, but all the parts connect with one another. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. 195 That part which passes through, and connects with the ball. 1863 Hawthorne Old Home, Haunts of Burns (1879) 217 Connecting with it, there is a very small room..which Burns used as a study. |
b. Of a railway train, steamer, etc.: to run in connexion. Hence in slang use, of a person: to meet, find, get in touch with (another person). Also spec., to meet in order to obtain drugs (from); cf. connexion 6 c. U.S.
| 1856 Olmsted Slave States 134 The train was advertised to connect here with a steamboat for Norfolk. 1926 J. Black You can't Win xiii. 177 Wait till I send you word. Don't try to connect with me. 1938 F. Chester Shot Full ii. 13 ‘Connecting’ was tough. Drugs were most difficult to obtain. Ibid. 15 One day when I went to a doctor to ‘connect’ for junk, I met another addict coming out. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed vii. 50 If you're connecting from Frankie, he should have told you. |
c. fig. To fit together or cohere (in logical sequence or agreement); to be practically related or associated. Also in extended uses: to ‘get across’, to ‘click’, to be meaningful.
E. M. Forster's phr. ‘only connect’ (see quot. 1910) is frequently used allusively.
| 1753 Stewart's Trial 267 From the depositions of these two witnesses, which connect exactly together, it is distinctly proved, etc. 1755 Johnson, Connect, v.n. To cohere; to have just relation to things precedent and subsequent. Seldom used but in conversation. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. xi. (1869) I. 238 The produce of the dairy, of which the price naturally connects with that of butcher's-meat. a 1792 Bishop George Horne in Cent. Dict. s.v., This part will not connect with what goes before. 1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xxii. 183 She would only point out the salvation that was latent..in the soul of every man. Only connect! Ibid. 184 Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die. 1911 R. Brooke Let. 28 Apr. (1968) 302 We join up Puritan and Hedonist: we have (once more) only connected. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §591/4 Impress audience favorably; ‘get across’..connect. 1947 Picture Post 27 Sept. 5/2 Nothing ‘connects’ these days apparently beyond the eternal nylons, shop-windows and hotel-menus. 1958 Listener 30 Oct. 704/1 A magazine programme like ‘Science is News’ has probably done its job if one of its items connects. 1962 Ibid. 17 May 837/2 We are not entitled to demand faster growth and expect business, and indeed life, to continue as usual. As Mr Forster would say, let us ‘only connect’. Ibid. 2 Aug. 182/1 But he [sc. man] can connect; he can build bridges across the muddle of experience, of understanding, faithfulness, and love. Ibid. 4 Oct. 524/2 Papers on history and poetry which connect with politics but are not directly concerned with it. 1963 Ibid. 14 Mar. 458/1 It [sc. hot jazz] failed to become popular because it was unable to connect with popular needs. 1966 Guardian 21 Mar. 8/4 Whether the words ‘common good’ connect or not, hundreds of thousands of people in this country have a sense of the public interest. |
d. To succeed in obtaining something (e.g. in a burglary). U.S. slang.
| 1926 J. Black You can't Win xi. 144 ‘Did you connect, Kid?’ he asked when [i.e. after the burglary] we were on the street. 1931 ‘Dean Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 203 To connect, to make a touch. The reward for good panhandling. 1938 D. Runyon Take it Easy 289 He will move himself in for a few dibs if the good thing connects. |
e. Of a punch, blow, etc.: to hit, to reach its target. Const. with and absol.
| 1933 John o' London's 4 Feb. 720/2 To land a punch on the chin is..to ‘connect’ with that organ. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §677/21 Hit the ball..connect. 1960 Observer 24 Jan. 5/4 There is a thump like a pile-driver connecting with the pavement. |
Add: II. The infin. used attrib.: connect time, the length of time that a terminal is actively connected or logged on to a computer system.
| 1978 Online (U.S.) Apr. 57/2 We compared the advertised costs per hour of connect time..and the calculated discounts. 1985 Library Assoc. Rec. Apr. 152/2 (Advt.), Connect time in excess of the 12 hours will be charged at the standard rate for the remainder of the year. 1987 Stock & Land (Melbourne) 2 July (CALM Suppl.) 4/1 Computer users pay connect time charges of $20 an hour. |
▪ II. † coˈnnect, pa. pple. Obs. rare.
[Either short for connected, or formed after ppl. forms in -ct from Latin, such as erect, collect. The etymological form from L. is connex, q.v.]
Connected.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 73 Not part of the ventricle, but some other part connect and knit thereto. |