ally
A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend.
Noun
- A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend.
- [N]o attempt is made to call in God to their reſcue, as if he vvere an idle unconcern'd ſpectator of humane affairs, or ſo inconſiderable an ally, as not to be vvorth the care of engaging him on their ſide. - 1660,...
- The rights of the ſeven Electors were ſupported by all the deſcendants and allies of their powerful families, who ſhared in the ſplendor and influence, which they enjoyed by this diſtinguiſhing privilege. - 1769,...
- […] Christy and his trusty ally, the one armed with a fowling piece, the other with an ancient blunderbuss, turned out as sentries to keep watch over this donjon keep. - 1822 May 21, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym;...
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A person who, or organization which, supports a demographic group subject to discrimination and/or misrepresentation but is not a member of the group; specifically (LGBTQ), a person who is not a member of the LGBT+ community but is supportive of it.
- I’m glad you want to be a better ally to the disabled.
- A person, group, state, etc., which is associated or united by treaty with another for a common (especially military or political) purpose; a confederate.
- The two countries were allies in World War I.
- To be ſo ſcornefull to your alye⸝ / Your counſeyle was not worth a flye. - [1513], John Skelton, A Ballade of the Scottysshe Kynge, [London: Richard Fawkes], →OCLC; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1882, →OCLC, page...
- If thou deſire to make vvarre vvith a Prince, vvith vvhom thou haſt formerly ratified a league; aſſaile ſome Ally of his, rather then himſelfe: […] his infidelity in not aſſiſting his Ally, vvill be diſcovered: Hereby...
- Something regarded as connected with or related to another thing by similarity in features or nature.
- the pretty Pansy then Ile tye / Like Stones some Chaine inchasing, / And next to them their neere Alye, / The purple Violet placing. - 1630, Michael Drayton, “[The Muses Elizium.] The Fift Nimphall.”, in Cyril Brett,...
- The Aleptick art, and, its neereſt ally, Medicine, are deſign'd for the cure of bodies, reducing the faculties to the beſt harmony; […] - 1659–1660, Thomas Stanley, “[Timæus the Locrian. Of the Soul of the World, and of...
- The frozen Earth lies buried there, belovv / A hilly heap, ſev'n Cubits deep in Snovv: / And all the VVeſt Allies of ſtormy Boreas blovv. - 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The...
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(taxonomy) An organism which is related to another organism through common evolutionary origin; specifically, a species which is closely related to another species, usually within the same family.
- The order of Gruiformes includes cranes and their allies.
- Procyonids (raccoons and their allies), a group of North American origin, are first recorded in South America in a level immediately below a unit dated at 6.0 million years. - 1979, Larry G. Marshall et al.,...
- A person, group, concept, etc., which is associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary; a supporter.
- [S]cience, instead of being the enemy of religion, becomes its ally. - 1861, Henry Thomas Buckle, “An Examination of the Scotch Intellect during the Eighteenth Century”, in History of Civilization in England, volume II,...
- A kinsman or kinswoman; a relative.
- This Gentleman the Princes neere Alie. / My very frend hath tane this mortall vvound / In my behalfe, […] - c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn...
- Finally there was a quiet wedding at the Towers, […] The Sellerses were to go to England with their new allies for a brief visit, but when it was time to take the train from Washington, the colonel was missing. - 1892,...
Origin
From Middle English allie, alie [and other forms], probably partly: * from allien (verb): see etymology 1; and * from Anglo-Norman allié, alié, alyé, allyé, Middle French allié, alié, allyé (“associate, supporter; friend; relative; person, state, etc., associated or united with another by alliance or treaty”), and Old French alliiet (“military or political ally”) (modern French allié), a noun use of the past participle of Anglo-Norman alier, allier, Middle French alier, allier, and Old French alier (verb): see etymology 1.
Forms
Related
Derived
Allies ally cookie allyhood allyless allyship coally fern ally nonally
Noun obsolete, plural
- One's relatives; kin, kindred, relations; also, relationship through descent or marriage; kinship.
- The ſpider: as of vſe in talke new entrid, / (Frendes axe of frends: the ſtate of their frends frendly,) / Axte how his coſins (thants father and mother) did. / His brothers ſiſters with all kyn and aly, / Thant ſaid...
- People, groups, states, etc., which are associated or united with each other for a common purpose; confederates; also, the state of being allied; alliance, confederation.
Noun alt of, alternative
- Alternative spelling of alley (“a glass marble or taw”).
Origin
See alley.
Forms
Verb
- To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty.
- Theſe three did loue each other dearely well, / And with ſo firme affection were allyde, / As if but one ſoule in them all did dvvell, / VVhich did her povvre into three parts diuyde; […] - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book...
- [W]hen hee's remou'd, your Highneſſe / VVill take againe your Queene, as yours at firſt, / Euen for your Sonnes ſake, and thereby for ſealing / The Iniurie of Tongues, in Courts and Kingdomes / Knovvne, and ally'd to...
- That this coniunction doth not ioyne the ſubſtances, but vniteth the affections, and allyeth the wils. - 1612, Pierre Du Moulin, “That as Well the Carnall Presence of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist: As also...
- Chiefly followed by to or with: to connect or form a relation to (someone or something) by similarity in features or nature.
- Yes in good ſooth, the vice is of a great kindred; it is vvell allied, but it is impoſſible to extirpe it quite, Frier, till eating and drinking be put dovvne. - c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare,...
- Great VVits are ſure to Madneſs near ally'd; / And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide: […] - 1681, [John Dryden], Absalom and Achitophel. A Poem, London: […] J[acob] T[onson] and are to be sold by W. Davis […],...
- Thus Nature gives us (let it check our Pride) / The virtue neareſt to our Vice ally'd; / Reaſon the Byas turns to Good from Ill, / And Nero reigns a Titus, if he vvill. - 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […],...
- To join or unite (oneself or itself) against, with, etc., someone or something else.
- To be ſhort, hauing thus ingrafted them into the body of his [God's] Sonne, he ioyneth and allieth him ſelfe to them, he maketh him ſelfe one with them, maketh them his children and heyres, partakers of his immortalitie...
- [W]e have ſo many of our firſt Titled Families vvho have ally'd themſelves to Trade, (vvhoſe Inducements vvere Money only) that it ceaſes to be either a VVonder as to the Fact, or a Diſgrace to the Honour. - 1742,...
- And do we upbraid thee [rain], in our heartless stupidity, because, rather than withhold thy life-giving dispensations, thou allyest thy gentle nature with thy opposites, and comest in unwelcome company—in chilly league...
- Chiefly followed by with: to enter into an alliance or unite for a common aim.
- [A]ftervvards he [Constantine the Great] allied vvith Licinius, and gave him his Siſter in marriage, and acknovvledged him his Colleague in the Empire. - 1673, Gilbert Burnet, “The First Conference”, in A Vindication of...
- Whatever injuries […] the Athenians have done me I forgive. […] If they will ally with me, rebuild the temples I have burnt. - 1837, Edward Lytton Bulwer [i.e., Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VIII, in Athens: Its Rise...
Synonyms: make common cause
Origin
From Middle English allien, alien (“to form an alliance, associate, join; to become an ally; to introduce (someone) as an ally; to marry; to become related (to someone); to attack, engage in combat; to combine; (cooking) to combine ingredients, especially to bind them together”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman alier, allier, Middle French alier, allier [and other forms], and Old French alier (“to join together, unite; to alloy (metals); (cooking) to combine ingredients”) (modern French allier), from Latin alligāre, the present active infinitive of alligō, adligō (“to bind around, to, or up (something), bandage, fasten, fetter, tie; to hold fast; to detain, hinder”), from al-, ad- (intensifying prefix) + ligō (“to bind, tie; to bandage, wrap around; to unite”) (from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind, tie”)). Doublet of allay, alligate, alloy, and ligament.
Forms
allies allying allied no-table-tags glossary ally allyest allyeth -