Also 4 -cyat, 6–8 -ciat, 7 assotiate. [ad. L. associātus, pa. pple. of as-, ad-sociāre to join together with, f. ad to + socius sharing, united, allied. Used at first as pa. pple. of the vb. ASSOCIATE; see next.]
A. ppl. a. = ASSOCIATED.
1. Joined in companionship, function or dignity.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., II. v. (1495), 32. Angels ben … assocyat and couplyd togyders in the joyefull companye of god.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., IV. iii. With him is Edmund gone associate?
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turkes (1638), 33. Christ our Sauiour, equall and associate to his Father.
1844. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xix. § 6 (1862), 377. The Supreme Court … is composed of a president and six associate judges.
2. Joined in league, allied, confederate.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXV. xiii. 556. All the associate and confederate [sociis] cities thereabout.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 395. While I … Descend through Darkness … To my associate Powers.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XVI. 367. Amphinomus survey’d th’ associate band.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, IX. If ought of patriot enterprise required Associate firmness.
3. United in the same group or category, allied; concomitant.
1750. Johnson, Rambl., No. 90, ¶ 9. They want some associate sounds to make them harmonious.
1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II. 407. Faith, understood in the most comprehensive sense, as including the two associate virtues.
1873. J. E. Garretson (title), A System of Oral Surgery … Surgery of the Mouth, Jaws, and Associate Parts.
B. sb. [the adj. used absolutely.]
1. One who is united to another by community of interest, and shares with him in enterprise, business or action; a partner, comrade, companion.
1533. More, Apol., xliv. Wks. 914/2. I woulde not greatly wish to be … their associate in anye suche confederacies.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, B v b. Collonel Rushner and his assotiates in Holland, their proposals concerning waterworks.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IX. 200. My dear associates, here indulge your rest.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 651. These men, more wretched than their associates who suffered death.
2. A companion in arms, ally, confederate.
1548. Grafton, Chron. Edw. III., an. 12 (R.). For the receyuing of him, his associates and armie.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 39. This hapned the yeare before the war of our Associates.
1849. W. Irving, Mahomed’s Succ., vii. (1853), 26. His associates soon turned the tide of the battle.
3. One who shares an office or position of authority with another; a colleague, coadjutor. spec. An officer of the Superior Courts of Common Law in England, ‘whose duties are to superintend the entering of causes, to attend sittings at nisi prius, and there receive and enter verdicts,’ etc. (Warton.)
(In accordance with the statutes of Edward I. and Edward II., the commissions of the judges on circuit were accompanied by writs of association, directing certain persons (usually the clerk of assize and his subordinate officers) to associate themselves with the justices and serjeants in order to take the assizes. (Stephens.) Up to 1879 there were 3 Associates in London, and 8 in the provinces, one for each Circuit. By the Supreme Court of Judicature Act of that year, the Associates in London were abolished, and made Masters of the Supreme Court.)
1552. Huloet, Associat in auctoritie, or put in ioynt commissioun, Assessor.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. xv. (1912), 170 (J.). They … perswade the King … to make Plangus, his associate in gouernment with him.
1685. Lond. Gaz., No. 2014/6. The Mayor, Associate, Justices of the Peace, Aldermen.
1862. Archbold, Practice (Prentice), I. 15 (ed. 13). There is an Associate in each Division appointed by the Chief Justice and Chief Baron respectively.
4. One who is frequently in company with another, on terms of social equality and intimacy; an intimate acquaintance, companion, mate.
1601. Weever, Mirr. Mart., A vj. No meane Cumrades, no base associates.
1678. Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 41. One of my Lords most intimate associates.
1851. Helps, Friends in C., I. 111. We become familiar with the upper views, tastes, and tempers of our associates.
5. One who belongs to an association or institution in a subordinate degree of membership, without the honours and privileges of a full member or ‘Fellow.’
Commonly expressed by A.: as A.R.A., Associate of the Royal Academy, A.L.S. Associate of the Linnæan Society.
1812. Examiner, 9 Nov., 714/2. [They] have … been elected Associates of the Royal Academy.
1831. Brewster, Newton (1855), II. xix. 207. The eight foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences.
6. A thing placed or found in conjunction with another.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., 24. A way to make wood perpetual, and a fit associat for metal.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxxiii. § 5 (R.). The one [idea] no sooner at any time comes into the understanding but its associate appears with it.
1879. G. Gladstone, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 111/1. It is as an almost constant associate of lead that we look for our supply of British silver.
