also 5 -siat. [f. prec.: the pa. pple. and pa. t. associat(e were in use before the present tense, or the pa. t. and pple. associated. Cf. the earlier ASSOCIE from Fr.]
1. trans. To join (persons, or one person with (to arch.) another), in (to obs.) common purpose, action or condition; to link together, unite, combine, ally, confederate.
1398. [see ASSOCIATE ppl. a. 1.]
1494. Fabyan, V. cxxvii. 107. He … associate vnto hym certeyn wanton persones.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Mark viii. 34 (R.). Yf he intende to be associate wyth me in blisse.
1561. T. N[orton], Calvin’s Inst., Table Quot., She was associated unto him in marriage.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 436. To associate him to the worke which himselfe and Paul went about.
1724. Swift, Drapier’s Lett., Wks. 1755, V. II. 72. None but papists are associated against him.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., I. xvi. 394. The troops … associating to them all the disorderly people.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), iv. 232. Arnulf associated his son with him in his government.
b. To elect as associate: see ASSOCIATE sb. 5.
1806. Southey, in Ann. Rev., IV. 582. He … was associated to the royal Academy there.
1859. Allibone, Biogr. Dict., I. 43/1. The Royal College of Physicians associated him [Akenside] as a licentiate.
2. trans. To join, combine in action, unite (things together, or one thing with another). (Mostly refl. or pass.)
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, V. 70. The thyrd veyne of the ventricle is very small, not associated with any Arterie.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., Digress. 352. The inspired Air … does there associate it self with the Exhalations of the circulating Blood.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 158, ¶ 7. Faults are endured without disgust when they are associated with transcendent merit.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., II. i. § 7. The muscles … act in groups, being associated together by the organization of the nervous centres.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 72. This vapour is intimately associated with the other constituents of the atmosphere.
b. To connect in idea.
1760. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1859), I. 110. They associate the ideas of pain to those lessons.
1850. McCosh, Div. Govt., I. iii. (1874), 64. The very name of God is associated in the human mind with fear.
1870. M. Conway, Earthw. Pilgr., xvii. 213. Who could associate rose-leaves with hell-fires?
3. refl. in sense of 4. Const. as in 1, 2.
1494. Fabyan, VI. ccxii. 228. Algarus … the whiche assosiat hym with Gryffyne, kynge or duke of Walys.
1611. Bible, Isa. viii. 9. Associate your selues, O ye people, and yee shalbe broken in pieces.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., III. XI. 340. He associated himself as a member of their fraternity.
1788–94. Gibbon, Misc. Wks. (1814), I. 2. By associating ourselves to the authors of our existence.
b. To make oneself a partner in (a matter).
1881. Gladstone, in Times, 17 May, 7/3. It is for me, in the responsible position I hold, entirely to associate myself with the answer previously given by the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
4. intr. a. To combine for a common purpose, to join or form an association.
1653. Baxter, Chr. Concord., 107. Those Congregations whose Ministers refuse to Associate.
1770. Burke, Pres. Discont. When bad men combine, good men must associate.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, i. 8. As many as … sixteen tenants associated in one lease.
b. To keep company or have intercourse (with).
1644. Milton, Judgm. Bucer (1851), 313. Any dishonest associating they permit.
1728. Thomson, Winter, 205. Let me associate with the serious night.
1754. Chatham, Lett. Nephew, iv. 20. Be sure to associate with men much older than yourself.
1868. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, 40. The Rector … associated only with county people.
† 5. trans. To join oneself to (a person): a. To accompany, escort, attend. Obs.
1548. Hall, Chron. Hen. VII., an. 34 (R.). He shoulde have associated him in hys iourney.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. ii. 5. A bare-foote Brother … to associate me, Here in this Citie visiting the sick.
1609. Man in Moone (1857), 108. The Parasite, associating the Glutton to the gate, entereth.
1657. Brome, Queene’s Exch., III. 499. And who associates him?
† b. To keep company or consort with. Obs.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 1108. Therfore shal man leaue father and mother and associate his wife.
1590. J. Greenwood, in Confer., III. 63. If I associat a theife & Communicate in his euill.
† c. To act as associate or assistant to. Obs.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., viii. 36. The Lieutenant is to associate the Captaine.
† d. of things: (cf. 2.) To accompany, join.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, V. 70. The Arterie associatyng this veyne.
1613. Heywood, Braz. Age, I. Wks. 1874, III. 181. Those torturing pangues That should associate death.
1691. Ray, Creation (1714), 277. It is for that End necessary, that the large Trunks of the Veins and Arteries should not associate each other.
