ally
noun
- supporter
- member of a formal alliance
verb
- to unite or connect,
proper noun
- female given name; diminutive of Alice, Alison
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈæliː/ / /ˈæli/ / /ˈæl.aɪ/ / /əˈlaɪ/
name
Etymology: Diminutives + -y.
- A diminutive of the female given names Alice, Alison, Alexandra, or other names beginning with Al-[[]], from the Germanic languages or Ancient Greek.
“Where’s my Girle? What Ally? Ally? / Enter Alice.”
- A diminutive of the male given names Alfred, Albert, Alan, Alexander, or other names beginning with Al-[[]], from the Germanic languages, the Celtic languages, or Ancient Greek.
“Ally Love”
“Golden-hair'd Ally whose name is one with mine, Crazy with laughter and babble and earth's new wine”
noun
Etymology: See alley.
- Alternative spelling of alley (“a glass marble or taw”).
verb
Etymology: 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.
- 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; […]”
“[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 yours.”
- 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.”
“Great VVits are ſure to Madneſs near ally'd; / And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide: […]”
- 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 and glorie, and all this he worketh by the inward vertue of his holy Ghost, […]”
“[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.”
- 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.”
“Whatever injuries […] the Athenians have done me I forgive. […] If they will ally with me, rebuild the temples I have burnt.”