adhere, v.
(ædˈhɪə(r))
Also 7 adhære.
[a. Fr. adhére-r (15th c. in Litt.), ad. L. adhærē-re to stick to, f. ad to + hærē-re to stick.]
1. a. intr. To stick fast, to cleave, to become or remain firmly attached, to a substance, as by a glutinous surface, or by grasping, etc.
| 1651 Rawleigh's Ghost 96 The stalks do not adhere or cleave to the boughes by any fibræ. 1764 Reid Inq. Hum. Mind v. §2. 120 When the parts of a body adhere so firmly that it cannot easily be made to change its figure, we call it hard. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iii. §22. 90 These mouldings nearly adhere to the stone. 1860 Tyndall Glaciers i. §3. 30 The fragments of snow that adhered to the staff. Mod. These labels do not adhere well. |
b. fig.
| c 1620 A. Hume Orthogr. Brit. Tong. (1865) 32 An adverb is a word adhering mast commonlie with a verb. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xli. 517 Flattery adheres to power, and envy to superior merit. 1854 J. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xxx. 559 A straggling village adhered to the sides of a vast ravine. |
2. a. To cleave to a person or party; to be a close companion, partizan, or follower.
| 1597 Bacon Ess. (Arb.) 76 Meane men must adheare, but great men, that haue strength in themselues, were better to maintaine themselues indifferent, and neutrall. 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 21 Two men there are not liuing To whom he more adheres. 1651 Hobbes Leviathan i. xi. 49 It disposeth men to adhære, and subject themselves to those men. 1690 Luttrell Brief Rel. II. (1857) 124 High treason in adhering to the King's enemies. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 129 These people..with few exceptions, adhered to the Church of Rome. 1865 Grote Plato I. iv. 165 Thrasyllus adhered to Aristophanes on so many disputable points. |
† b. refl. Obs.
| 1633 Stafford Pac. Hib. xxiv. (1821) 448 Or haue combined, or adhered themselves to any her majestie's enemies. |
3. To cleave to an opinion, practice, or method; to continue to maintain or observe. to adhere to a decision, etc.: to confirm or approve it by a subsequent decision.
| 1656 Bramhall Replie 42 In things not necessary a man may fluctuate safely between two opinions..without certain adherence, or adhere certainly without Faith. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 64 The lawyer has his positive institutions too, and he adheres to them with veneration. 1772 Junius Lett. lxviii. 338 In one instance, the very form is adhered to. 1879 B. Taylor Germ. Lit. 68, I shall adhere to the plan stated in the beginning of these lectures. |
† 4. without const. To be coherent, to ‘hang together,’ as a story; to be consistent with itself or with circumstances, to agree. Obs. rare.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 62 They doe no more adhere and keep place together, then the hundred Psalms to the tune of Greensleeues. 1605 ― Macb. i. vii. 52 Nor time, nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both. |
5. Bot. To be naturally united or soldered to what is normally an unlike part, as a distinct whorl of the inflorescence; to be adnate.
| 1857 Henfrey Bot. 94 Adhesion may exist between the inner and outer circles of the floral envelopes..or the calyx, corolla, and stamens may all adhere to the pistil. |