attach

Verb

1. To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).
   • You need to attach the carabiner to your harness.
   • An officer is attached to a certain regiment, company, or ship.
   • [T]he ſhoulder-blade has no bony communication with the trunk, either by a joint, or proceſs, or in any other way. […] It is bedded in the fleſh; attached only to the muſcles. - 1802, William Paley, “Of Mechanical...

   Synonyms: connect annex affix unite accouple assemble associate attach bewed bind clasp clinch combine conglomerate conglutinate conjoin construct couple entwine fay fix graft hitch hook

   Antonyms: detach unfasten disengage separate decouple disconnect rip off tear off unconnect uncouple unhitch

2. To adhere; to be attached.
   • The great interest which attaches to the mere knowledge of these facts cannot be doubted. - 1838, Henry Brougham, Political Philosophy:

   Synonyms: cling stick adhere attach bond cleave cohere conglutinate glue hug stick together stick with

3. To include an attachment with a communication (especially an email or other electronic communication).
   • I've attached the contract to this email.
4. To come into legal operation in connection with anything; to vest.
   • Dower will attach.
   • it therefore becomes important to know at what time the lien for taxes will attach. - 1886, Thomas M. Cooley, A Treatise on the Law of Taxation:
5. To win the heart of; to connect by ties of love or self-interest; to attract; to fasten or bind by moral influence; with to.
   • attached to a friend; attaching others to us by wealth or flattery
   • incapable of attaching a sensible man - 1811, [Jane Austen], Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
   • God […] by various ties attaches man to man. - 1782, William Cowper, “Charity”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC:
6. To connect, in a figurative sense; to ascribe or attribute; to affix; with to.
   • to attach great importance to a particular circumstance
   • Some of the guilt must attach to the parents.
   • To this treasure a curse is attached. - 1879, Bayard Taylor, Studies in German Literature:

   Synonyms: chalk up to draw impute accredit ascribe attach attribute charge lay put down to repose

7. To take, seize, or lay hold of.
   • Then homeward every man attach the hand / Of his fair mistress. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio),...
8. To arrest, seize.
   • Eftsoones the Gard, which on his state did wait, / Attacht that faitor false, and bound him strait […] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William...
   • Old lord, I cannot blame thee, / Who am myself attach'd with weariness / To th' dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest. - 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares...
   • The earl marshal attached Gloucester for high treason. - 1868–1899, Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, Cameos from English History, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC: