attach

English

Etymology

From Old French atachier (French: attacher, Italian: attaccare, Spanish: atacar, Portuguese atacar).

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /əˈtætʃ/
• Rhymes: -ætʃ

Verb

attach (third-person singular simple present attaches, present participle attaching, simple past and past participle attached)

1. (obsolete, law) To arrest, seize.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.xii:

     Eftsoones the Gard, which on his state did wait, / Attacht that faitor false, and bound him strait [...].

   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 2

     Old lord, I cannot blame thee,

     Who am myself attach'd with weariness

     To th' dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.

2. To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).

   You need to attach the carabiner to your harness.

Synonyms

• (to fasten, to join to) connect, annex, affix, unite

Antonyms

• (to fasten, to join to) detach, unfasten, disengage, separate

Derived terms

attachable attacher get attached

Related terms

attachment

Translations

to fasten, to join to

• Arabic: ربط (ar) (rabaṭa)
• Bulgarian: закрепвам (bg) (zakrepvam), прикрепвам (bg) (prikrepvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 附上 (cmn) (fùshàng), 附 (cmn) (fù), 附筆 (cmn), 附笔 (cmn) (fùbǐ), 附加 (cmn) (fùjiā), 附有 (cmn) (fùyǒu)

• Czech: připojit (cs), přiložit (cs), připevnit (cs), přichytit se (cs)
• Dutch: vastmaken (nl)
• Esperanto: kroĉi (eo)
• Estonian: kaasama (et)
• Finnish: liittää (fi)
• French: attacher (fr)
• Greek: επισυνάπτω (el) (episynápto)
• Haitian Creole: tache

• Hebrew: חיבר (he) (khibér)
• Ido: atachar
• Italian: legare (it)
• Japanese: 付ける (ja) (つける, tsukeru), 添付する (ja) (てんぷする, tenpu surú)
• Latin: adiciō (la), applicō (la), illigō (la), nectō (la)
• Portuguese: anexar (pt)
• Romanian: atasat, anexat
• Russian: прикреплять (ru) (prikrepljátʹ) impf., прикрепить (ru) (prikrepítʹ) pf.
• Spanish: anexar (es), adjuntar (es)
• Swedish: fästa (sv), sätta fast (sv), bifoga (sv), vidfoga (sv)

to arrest, seize

• Russian: задерживать (ru) (zadérživátʼ) impf., задержать (ru) (zaderžát’) pf.