[f. L. fœderāt- ppl. stem of fœderāre, f. fœder-, fœdus: see FEDERAL.] a. intr. To enter into a league for a common object. b. trans. To band together as a league; to organize on a federal basis.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. viii. Thus, at Lyons … we behold as many as fifty, or … sixty thousand, met to federate.
1884. Pall Mall G., 22 Nov., 1/2. We shall be compelled to grant Home Rule, and Home Rule will drive us irresistibly to federate the empire.
1884. J. Douglas, Imperial Federation, in 19th Cent., XVI., Dec., 854. A strong recommendation to federate, which came from a Royal Commission then sitting at Melbourne.
1883. Lowe, Bismarck, II. 162. Did the Chancellor himself, too, dream of federating the Continent against England?
Hence Federated ppl. a.; Federating ppl. a.
1814. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp., XII. 43. To hold them as dependent or federated states rather than as colonies.
1883. W. Westgarth, in Pall Mall G., 22 Oct., 2/1. Although annexation is refused to Queensland, to a federated Australasia it would be allowed. Ibid. (1885), 10 Jan., 1/2. The mutual consent of the federating communities.
