assign

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English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French assigner, asigner, from Latin assignō, from ad- + signō (“mark, sign”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əˈsaɪn/
  • Hyphenation: as‧sign
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪn

Verb

assign (third-person singular simple present assigns, present participle assigning, simple past and past participle assigned)

  1. (transitive) To designate or set apart something for some purpose.
    to assign a day for trial
  2. (transitive) To appoint or select someone for some office.
    to assign counsel for a prisoner
  3. (transitive) To allot or give something as a task.
    • 1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More: Or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, volume I, London: John Murray, page 210:
      “I cannot do it, Sir !” was his reply. “I fire into their ranks, and that does as well ; but to single out one among them, and mark him for death, would lie upon my mind afterwards.” The man who could feel thus was worthy of a better station than that in which his lot had been assigned.
    • 1857, William Hickling Prescott, “War with France”, in History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, new edition, volume I, London: G. Routledge & Co., page 116:
      He assigned his men to their several posts, talked boldly of maintaining himself against all the troops of Spain, and by his cheerful tone endeavoured to inspire a confidence in others which he was far from feeling himself.
    • Template:RQ:EHough PrqsPrc
      Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
  4. (transitive) To attribute or sort something into categories.
  5. (transitive, law) To transfer property, a legal right, etc., from one person to another.
  6. (transitive, programming) To give (a value) to a variable.
    We assign 100 to x.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

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Noun

assign (plural assigns)

  1. An assignee.
  2. (obsolete) A thing relating or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.
  3. (obsolete) An assignment or appointment.
  4. (obsolete) A design or purpose.
    • 1609, John Ford, “Fame's Memorial: An Elegy upon the Earl of Devonshire”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 9:
      He aim’d at high designs, and so attain’d / The high assigns to which his spirit aim’d.
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