associate 
p. 197. Comrade denotes & close companion ; it implies 
freedom of intercourse and a good degree of friendship : 
as, coiin-ailf* in arms. Ft'Miw has nearly lost its early 
signification of agreeable companionship, the later mean- 
ings having overshadowed it: as, "a bettre/etawvschulde 
men noght fynde," Chaucer. Compare fellow-feeling, (el- 
loir-helper, fellowxhiii. Ft'lltnc in this connection may 
mean one who naturally would be or is a companion : as, 
why do you not go with your fellows ? A partner is one 
whit takes part with others, especially in business or in 
any kind of joint ownership. .Formerly ally was nearly 
equivalent in meaning to associate, but it is now applied 
chiefly to states or rulers in their public capacity : as, the 
niV'in the Crimean war. A colleague is an associate for 
some specific purpose or in some office ; it is, like coadju- 
tor, properly applicable only to one engaged in labor or 
business regarded as especially dignified : as, Senators A 
and B were colleague* ; Luther and his coadjutors. A con- 
ft'th'ratf is one somewhat formally associated with others, 
now usually, when applied to private relations, for a bad 
object. See accomplice. 
A nice and subtle happiness, I see, 
Thou to thyself proposes!, in the choice 
Of thy associates, Adam ! Milton, P. L., vlii. 401. 
Thou shalt never find & friend in thy young'years whose 
conditions and qualities will please thee after thou comest 
to more discretion and judgment. Raleigh, To his Son. 
One that has well digested his knowledge, both of books 
and men, has little enjoyment but in the company of a 
few select companion*. Hume, Essays. 
Thus he moved the Prince 
To laughter and his comrades to applause. 
Tennyson, Geraint. 
I and my fellows 
Are ministers of fate. Shak., Tempest, iil. 3. 
Myself and other noble friends 
Are partners in the business. Shak., Cymb., i. 7. 
The allies, after conquering together, return thanks to 
God separately each after his own form of worship. 
Macaiday, Gladstone's Chnrch and State. 
The patricians prevailed upon some of the tribunes to 
dissent from their colleagues. J. Adams, Works, IV. 534. 
Whose political sagacity, like that of his illustrious co- 
adjutor, read the fate and interests of nations. 
Story, Speech, Cambridge, Aug. 31, 1828. 
I had forgot that foul conspiracy 
Of the beast Caliban, and his confederates, 
Against my life. Shalt., Tempest, iv. 1. 
associateship (a-so'shi-at-ship), . [< associ- 
ate + -ship.'] The position or office of an asso- 
ciate. [Rare.] 
association (a-so-si-a'shon), n. [= F. associ- 
ation, < ML. associatio(n-), a society. < L. asso- 
ciare, associate: see associate, .] 1. The act 
of associating or the state of being associated. 
(a) Connection of persons or things ; union. 
Self-denial is a kind of holy association with God. 
Boyle, Seraphic Love, iii. 
There are many objects, of great value to man, which 
cannot be attained by unconnected individuals, but must 
be attained, if attained at all, by association. 
D. Webster, Speech, Pittsburgh, July, 1833. 
The very common association between seeing clearly 
and seeing narrowly is a law or a frailty of our nature not 
sufficiently understood. Gladstone, Might of Right, p. 135. 
(6) A union or connection of ideas. See as- 
sociation of ideas, below. 
The words which we use are so enwrapped in an atmo- 
sphere of subtle association* that they are liable to sway 
the direction of our thoughts in ways of which we are 
often unconscious. J. Fiske, Idea of God, p. 151. 
2. An organized union of persons for a com- 
mon purpose; a body of persons acting to- 
gether for the promotion of gome object of 
mutual interest or advantage ; a partnership, 
corporation, or society : as, the Association for 
the Advancement of Science ; a political or 
charitable association. 
The old company . . . was able, with the help of its 
Tory friends, to prevent the rival association from obtain- 
ing similar privileges. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xx. 
Articles of association or incorporation. See article. 
Association Of ideas (an expression invented by 
Locke), or mental association, in psychol., the tendency 
of a sensation, perception, feeling, volition, or thought to 
recall to consciousness others which have previously co- 
existed in consciousness with it or with states similar to 
it. Thus, the name of a friend is associated with his per- 
sonal appearance, age, place of residence, and so on ; and 
the sound of the name brings into consciousness involun- 
tarily one or more of these associated ideas. The special 
laws of association, though variously stated by psycholo- 
gists, are usually admitted to be those of contiguity and 
similarity ; that is, ideas recall ideas which have occur- 
red along with them, and also those which are similar to 
them. These are called the principles of objective and 
subjective association. The doctrine of association has 
played an important part in the history of modern English 
psychology and philosophy. 
The phrase, intrinsic and extrinsic association, might be 
introduced very appropriately to distinguish associations 
founded on intrinsic resemblances of mental states from 
those which merely imply the extrinsic accident of simul- 
taneous occurrence in consciousness. T. Clarke Murray. 
Association philosophy, the doctrine put forward by 
Hobbes, Hume. Hartley. James Mill, and others, that the 
operations of the mind are to be explained chiefly by the 
association of ideas. -Evangelical Association. See 
evangelical. Free Religious Association. See free. 
Indissoluble or inseparable association, an associa- 
tion of ideas so strong that we cannot think one without 
also thinking the other. Voluntary association, in 
350 
law, a society which is unincorporated, but is not a part- 
nership, in that the members are not agents for one an- 
i>tluT.=Syn. 2. Combination, company, club, lodge, fra- 
ternity. 
associational (a-so-si-a'shon-al), a. [< asso- 
ciation + -a?.] 1. Pertaining to an association. 
2. Pertaining to the psychological doctrine 
of association or associationism. 
associationalism ( a - so - si - a ' shon - al - izm), n. 
Same as associationism. 
associationalist (a-so-si-a'shon-al-ist), . and 
a. Same as associationist. 
associationism (a-so-si-a'shon-izm), n. [< as- 
sociation + -fom.1 1. The psychological theory 
which regards the laws of association as the 
fundamental laws of mental action and de- 
velopment. See association of ideas, under as- 
sociation. 2. Same as Fourierism. 
Also associationalism. 
associationist (a-so-si-a'shon-ist), . and a. [< 
association + -i's'i.] I. H. 1. One who advocates 
the psychological doctrine of associationism. 
2. One who supports the doctrine of associa- 
tion advocated by Fourier and known as Fou- 
rierism (which see). 
H. a. Pertaining to associationism, in either 
sense of that word. 
Also associationalist. 
associative (a-so'shi-a-tiv), a. [< associate + 
-ie.] 1. Pertaining to or resulting from as- 
sociation; capable of associating; tending to 
associate or unite; characterized by associa- 
tion: as, "the associative faculty," Hugh Miller. 
Onomatopoeia, in addition to its awkwardness, has 
neither associative nor etymological application to words 
imitating sounds. 
J. A. a. Murray, 9th Ann. Add. to Philol. Soc. 
2. In math., applied to an operation which 
gives the same result whether it first unites 
two quantities A and B, and then unites the 
result to a third quantity C, or whether it first 
unites B and C, and then unites the result to 
A, the order of the quantities being preserved. 
Thus, addition and multiplication are said to be associa- 
tive, on account of the general formulas, 
(a \- b) + c = a + (ft + c) 
(a x 6) x c = a x (b x c). 
In the same sense, mathematicians often use the expres- 
sions associatiw formula, associat ire principle. Associa- 
tive algebra, a system of algebra in which multiplication 
is associative. 
associativeness (a-so'shi-a-tiv-nes), n. The 
property of being associative, especially in the 
mathematical sense. 
associat or (a-so'shi-a-tor), n. 1. One who or 
that which associates or connects together. 
2f. An associate or partner in any scheme ; a 
confederate. 
Our late associators and conspirators have made a third 
copy of the League. Dryden. Post, to Hist, of League. 
assoguet, n. [< F. assogue, < Sp. azogne (in 
same sense), lit. quicksilver: see nzoguc,] A 
Spanish galleon transporting quicksilver to 
America for use in the mines. 
assoil 1 (a-soil'), v. t. [< ME. assoilen, asoilen, 
assoilien, asoilien, assoylen, etc., = Sc. assoilzie, 
formerly assoilyie, assoilge (where Iz, Ig, ly rep- 
resent the F. II mouillees), < OF. assoiler, assoil- 
lier, asolier, also asoldre, assoldre, assoudre, etc., 
< L. absolvere, absolve, loosen: see absolve, of 
which assoil is thus a doublet.] If. To solve; 
clear up. 
To assoU this seeming difficulty. 
Waterland, Scripture Vindicated, iii. 63. 
2. To release; set free; acquit; pardon; ab- 
solve. [Archaic.] 
At my own tribunal stand a*soU'd. Tuke. 
To some bishop we will wend, 
Of all the sins that we have done. 
To be assailed at his hand. Percy's Relieves. 
3f. To remove ; dispel. 
Seeking him that should her paiue asoyle. 
Speiuicr, Y. Q., IV. v. 30. 
assoil 2 ! (a-soil'), r. t. [< as-^ + soil*."] To soil; 
stain. 
Whate'er he be 
Can with unthankfulness waoil me, let him 
Dig out mine eyes, and sing my name in verse. 
Fletcher (and another), Queen of Corinth, iii. 1. 
assoilmentt (a-soil'ment), n. [< assoin + 
-<ewf.] The act of assoiling ; absolution. More. 
assoilyie, assoilzie (a-soil'ye), v. t. Scotch 
forms of assoifl. 
God assoilzie him for the sin of bloodshed. 
Scoff, Ivanhoe, II. vi. 
assonance (as'o-nans), n. [< F. assonance (= 
Sp. asonancia = Pg. assonancia), < assonant: 
see assonant, a.] 1. Resemblance of sounds. 
The disagreeable assonance of "sheath " and "sheathed." 
Stcevens. 
asss-ear 
The combination of cadenced sentences with antitheti- 
cal alliteration, iutersprinkled with axxnnaucett of every 
kind and their inevitable offspring, the uncalled-for pun, 
was by him [Lyly] first introduced into English prose. 
A. W. Ward, Eng. Dram. Lit., I. 157. 
Homer, like Dante and Shakespeare, like all who really 
command language, seems fond of playingwith asKtmancfx. 
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 327. 
Specifically 2. In pros., a species of imper- 
fect rime, or rather a substitute for rime, espe- 
cially common in Spanish poetry, consisting 
in using the same vowel-sound with different 
consonants, and requiring the use of the same 
vowels in the assonant words from the last 
accented vowel to the end of the word : thus, 
man and hat, penitent and reticence, are exam- 
ples of assonance in English. 
There are some traces of the employment of rhyme and 
ii**nnance in mere popular literature at a very remote 
period. G. P. Marsh, Lectfi. on Eng. Lang., p. 505. 
3. Agreement or harmony of things. [Rare.] 
= Syn. Pantntnnaxi(i, etc. Secy"//. 
assonanced (as'o-nanst), a. [< assonance + 
-frf 2 .] Characterized by assonance ; assonant. 
The lines are, in the earlier examples, axgonanced, 
that is to say, the vowel sound of the last syllables is 
identical, but the consonante need not agree. 
Encyc. Brit., IX. 638. 
assonant (as'o-nant), a. and n. [< F. assonant 
(= Sp. asonante "= Pg. assonante), < L. asso- 
nan(t-)s, ppr. of assonare, sound to, respond to : 
see assoiiatc and sonant.'] I. a. 1. Having a 
resemblance of articulate sounds. 
Landor's blank verse ... is ... terse, yet fluent, as- 
sonant, harmonious. Stedman, Viet. Poets, p. 46. 
2. In pros., pertaining to or characterized by 
assonance. 
II. n. 1. A word resembling another in 
sound. Specifically 2. In pros., a word form- 
ing an assonance with another word. See as- 
sonance, 2. 
assonantal (as-o-nan'tal), a. Of or pertaining 
to assonance ; of the nature of an assonant. 
assonantic (as-o-nan'tik), a. Same as asso- 
nantal. 
assonate (as'o-nat), v. i. ; pret. and pp. asso- 
nated, ppr. assonating. [< L. assonare, sound 
to, respond to, < ad, to, + sonare, sound: see 
sonant."] To correspond in sound ; rime in asso- 
nance; be assonant. 
assort (a-sort'), r. [< late ME. assorte, < OF. 
assorter = Olt. assortare, < ML. assortare (mod. 
F. assortir = Sp. asortir = It. assortire, <. ML. 
as if "assortire, after L. sortiri, cast lots, allot, 
distribute, select: see sort, .); < L. ad, to, + 
sor(t-)s, lot, condition, sort: see serf.] I. trans. 
1. To separate and distribute into classes, 
sorts, or kinds ; part into lots ; arrange ; clas- 
sify : as, to assort goods. 2. To furnish with a 
suitable assortment or variety of goods ; make 
up of articles likely to suit a demand : as, to 
assort a cargo; " well-assorted warehouses," 
Burke. 3. To make of the same sort; adapt 
or suit. 
No way assorted to those with whom they must asso- 
ciate. Burke, Rev. in Jrance. 
II. intrans. 1. To agree in sort or kind; be 
accordant or matched : as, the two kinds assort 
well or ill. 2. To associate; consort. 
Assort no more with the menials of the goddess. 
Bulwer. 
assorted (a-sor'ted), p. a. 1. Consisting of 
selected kinds ; arranged in sorts or varieties. 
Our cargo was an assorted one ; that is, it consisted of 
everything under the sun. 
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 88. 
2. Matched ; fitted ; suited : as, a well-assorted 
pair. 
assortment (a-sort'ment), n. [< assort + -nient. 
Cf. F. assortment, < assortir."] 1. The act of 
assorting or distributing into sorts, kinds, or 
classes, or of selecting and suiting. 2. A col- 
lection of things assorted: as, an assortment of 
goods; "an assortment of paintings," Coxe. 
3. A class or group into which objects are as- 
sorted. 
Those classes and assortments . . . called genera and 
species. Adam Smith, Mor. Sent., II. 407(1797). (Jf.H.D.) 
assott (a-sof), v. [< ME. assoten, < OF. assoter, 
asoter, < a (L. ad, to) + sot, foolish : see sot."] 
I. intrans. To be or become infatuated or like 
a fool. 
II. trans. To infatuate ; deceive ; befool. 
That monstrous error which doth some assott. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 8. 
asspylet, r. t. See assort 1 . 
ass's-ear (as'ez-er), n. A fine iridescent shell, 
Haliotis asininus, used in the manufacture of 
