connect

From Latin connectere (“fasten together”), from con- (“together”) +‎ nectere (“bind”).

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈnɛkt/
• Hyphenation: con‧nect
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

connect (third-person singular simple present connects, present participle connecting, simple past and past participle connected)

1. (intransitive, of an object) To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.

   I think this piece connects to that piece over there.

2. (intransitive, of two objects) To join: to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to each other.

   Both roads have the same name, but they don't connect: they're on opposite sides of the river, and there's no bridge there.

3. (transitive, of an object) To join (two other objects), or to join (one object) to (another object): to be a link between two objects, thereby attaching them to each other.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:

     Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.

   The new railroad will connect the northern part of the state to the southern part.

4. (transitive, of a person) To join (two other objects), or to join (one object) to (another object): to take one object and attach it to another.

   I connected the printer to the computer, but I couldn't get it work.

5. To join an electrical or telephone line to a circuit or network.

   When the technician connects my house, I'll be able to access the internet.

6. To associate; to establish a relation between.

   I didn't connect my lost jewelry with the news of an area cat burglar until the police contacted me.

7. To make a travel connection; to switch from one means of transport to another as part of the same trip.

   I'm flying to London where I connect with a flight heading to Hungary.

• (to join one object to another object): affix, join, put together, unite; see also Thesaurus:join

• disconnect

• connection
• connector
• connexion
• connectability

• concent