α. 1700s– alinement, 1800s allinement.
β. 1700s allignement, 1700s–1800s alignement, 1700s– alignment.
alignmentn.
/əˈlʌɪnm(ə)nt/, U.S. /əˈlaɪnmənt/ 1.
a. The result of arranging in or along a line, or into appropriate relative positions; the layout or orientation of a thing or things disposed in this way. Also: a group of things forming a line.See also wheel alignment n. at wheel n. Compounds 1a(a).
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the world > space > relative position > quality or fact of being in a line (with) > [noun]
alignment1742
plumb1748
allineation1779
alignation1830
collinearity1863
1742 J. Martyn & E. Chambers tr. Philos. Hist. & Mem. Royal Acad. Sci. Paris I. 48 This Platform is here represented by 4 pricked lines... Its bend is 2 portions of a circle, which meet in the middle of the canal at the points B. B. the centres of which are about 30 feet below, and a little without its alinement.
1745 D. De Coetlogon Universal Hist. Arts & Sci. II. 98/2 He must place two of them [sc. battalions] on the Right, 100 Paces distant from the Alinement of the Pieces and Munitions.
1790 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 80 133 The deviation from the allignement horizontally or vertically.
1807 J. Barlow Columbiad v. 171 The crossing streets in just allinement run.
1881 Nature 1 Dec. 99/1 Archæological researches in the alignments or stone avenues of Kermario.
1892 Perry & Co. Typewriter Prospectus 2 Alignment is the first quality to be considered in purchasing a typewriter.
1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §278 Rigger, fixes wire stays on aeroplane or airship and is responsible for their proper tautness, alignment, and position.
1957 New Scientist 7 Nov. 16 Criss-crossing the lunar surface there are alignments of mountains, valleys and trench-like formations called rilles.
1968 A. White et al. Princ. Biochem. (ed. 4) xxxviii. 874 Hydrogen and electrostatic bonds are responsible for the end-to-end alignment.
2003 Daily Tel. 25 Feb. 33/6 Bands across a printed picture caused by blocked nozzles, poor alignment or design defects in the printer head.
b. The action of arranging in or along a line, or into appropriate relative positions; the action of bringing into line; an instance of this.
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the world > space > direction > [noun] > arrangement in correct direction
alignment1829
the world > space > shape > straightness > [noun] > making straight
straightening1688
alignment1829
dekinking1936
1829 Gleanings Sci. Nov. 317 To the heel of the scale should be attached a thin plate of brass, bent so as to embrace the tube, from the alignment of which with the surface of the mercury the most correct adjustment may be made.
1881 Daily News 15 Sept. 3/4 Between St. Mary-at-Hill and the Ship Tavern extensive alignments must take place.
1906 Indian Engin. 24 Feb. 117/1 The alignment of the northern and southern main canals has been completed for the first 15 miles.
1979 Cincinnati Mag. Nov. 88/3 Some local audio technicians can check your turntable and perform the alignment if it's needed.
2004 Tele-satellite Internat. July 20/2 The DSB-709..is also compatible with the all-important USALS protocol to help make antenna positioning and alignment much easier.
2. Military. Arrangement of soldiers in a line or lines; such a line or lines.
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society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > [noun] > arrangement in line or file
rank and file1598
alignment1781
filing1796
defile1835
1781 W. Dalrymple Tacticks 84 A Line in battle might be obliged to extend itself regularly on the same alignment to the right, or left, to follow the movements of the enemy.
1796 Instr. & Regulations Cavalry 9 That those several leaders may the more accurately and easily cover each other, when the march is in a straight alignement.
1808 Proc. Court Martial Lt. Gen. Whitelocke I. 28 We were obliged to re-occupy our original alinement and position for pickets.
1829 G. R. Gleig Chelsea Pensioners I. 170 We had not assumed our alignement many minutes.
1860 R. Wilson Invas. Russia 35 Its alignment had been pierced, and its communications obstructed.
1913 Amer. Mag. July 16/1 The shattered brigades preserve their alignment, oblique to the left, and sweep against the stone wall.
1979 T. L. Connelly Civil War Tennessee iii. 81 Serious alignment problems existed on Bragg's left and center.
2008 A. P. Balk Saints & Sinners vi. 111 They used their two-horsed chariots to circle the enemy while throwing spears, thus causing the enemy alignment to fall into confusion.
3. The route or course of a road, railway, or canal.
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1810 Gentleman's Mag. 80 Suppl. 615/1 The intended alignment of the road..will offer opportunities of frequent access.
1897 Morning Post 23 Jan. 5/5 The site of the present works extends over one and a half mile along the alignment of the future canal.
1930 Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 144/2 The railroads have spent millions of dollars on such improvements as heavier rail, stone ballasting, changes in alignment, elimination of curves, [etc.].
1966 R. Ashworth Highway Engin. iii. 49 An exploration of the soil conditions along the proposed road alignment.
1991 Mod. Railways Apr. 191/1 If the TGV had to be, they chorused, let its tracks be added to historic route or..parallel motorway alignments.
4. Astronomy. = allineation n. 2. Now rare.
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the world > the universe > cosmology > science of observation > [noun] > finding position of stars
alignment1828
1828 F. R. Hassler Pop. Expos. Syst. Universe i. 164 The best means of acquiring this knowledge [sc. astrognosy] is what is called the Alignments, which, by forming regular geometrical figures, of determined proportions, within those of the constellations, greatly augment the means of reference, and facilitate the recollection of the corresponding appearances.
1869 Eng. Mech. 24 Sept. 6/1 What is known as allinement—drawing imaginary lines through two stars, and producing such lines until they pass close to, or through, others which we are seeking to identify.
1869 E. Dunkin Midnight Sky 146 The stars..are very easily found by alignment.
1913 G. F. Chambers Astronomy xiii. 250 This process of star-hunting is technically called ‘allineation’ or ‘alignment’.
5. Archaeology. A linear arrangement of three or more standing stones.
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1831 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 433/1 Alignments, or rows of upright stones in line. These occur at Carnac and in the isle of Tinian.
1897 Jrnl. Cork Hist. & Archæol. Soc. 3 289 Reenanaree Townland, parish Kilnamartra.—On this is an alignment of six stones, placed in an east and west line, at about four feet between each pair of stones.
1975 E. Hadingham Circles & Standing Stones iv. 63 Alignments of two or three megaliths start and finish abruptly on uneven ground.
2006 A. Halpin & C. Newman Ireland: Oxf. Archaeol. Guide 13 Some of these circles appear to be associated with stone alignments, that is rows of standing stones that can stretch for considerable distances across the countryside.
6. Chiefly Politics. The grouping of parties, powers, etc., on the basis of shared political or ideological goals; a group consisting of such parties or powers. Cf. align v. 4.
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > [noun] > forming of groups of parties or powers
coalition1653
fusion1845
fusionism1851
alignment1866
1866 Scott's Monthly Mag. June 488/1 The sectional alignment of parties in 1860 was the knell of hope to the South.
1887 Public Opinion 20 Aug. 395/1 They are prepared for new political alignments.
1940 G. F. Hudson Turkey, Greece & E. Mediterranean 31 With Britain and France arrayed against Germany, and Italy neutral, the alinements in Western Europe are in the main those of the autumn of 1914.
1955 D. Davie Articulate Energy xiii. 154 The alignment of forces, for and against authentic syntax in poetry, is particularly clear.
1979 Times of India 17 Aug. 1/5 Those in the alignment were willing to accommodate Mr. Mahadev Prasad Varma..as deputy leader of the party.
1991 Pacific Rev. 4 263 In Northeast Asia, geo-economic patterns are rapidly replacing existing geo-political alignments.
7. Biochemistry. The process of matching the residues in two or more protein or nucleic sequences, in order to identify regions of homology; an instance of this; the result of this. Also sequence alignment.
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1958 Adv. in Virus Res. 5 96 We..examine whether there is not such a connection between the forces involved in the replication of vegetative bacteriophages and the point-to-point alignment of homologous genetic structures.]
1960 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 46 1566 Only the sequence 35–38 matches (inverted) the N-terminal sections of the octapeptides. In the absence of a dominant residue, we place intermediate confidence in this alignment.
1968 M. O. Dayhoff & R. V. Eck Atlas Protein Sequence & Struct. 1967–8 73/2 In correct alignments, gaps represent actual evolutionary events which have inserted or deleted portions of genes.
1978 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 253 1129/1 The isolation and sequence analysis of peptides derived from..digests..permitted the alignment of the complete sequence.
1990 Nucleic Acids Res. 18 308 (caption) Protein sequence alignment of the lys U gene product (LysUEC).
2002 Jrnl. Heredity 93 314/3 Sequence alignments and editing were performed using Sequencer 3.0.
Phrases
P1. in alignment: on or along the same line or with the same orientation; in appropriate relative positions; (in extended use) in accord or agreement. Also with with.
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1807 tr. Syst. Discipline & Manœuvres Infantry 78 in W. Duane Amer. Mil. Libr. (1809) I. The second section will form in alignment with the first.
1839 R. I. Murchison Silurian Syst. i. xxx. 401 Which range from N.E. to S.W. in allinement with the other ridges.
1872 Testimony Joint Select Comm. Condition Affairs Late Insurrectionary States: Georgia II. 778 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (42nd Congr., 2nd Sess.: Senate Rep. 41, Pt. 7) II A man who comes here and acts with the democratic party at once puts himself in alignment with the best part of our population.
1920 Nation (N.Y.) 3 Nov. 516/1 Napoleon III's aspiration to acquire Luxemburg was in alignment with the traditional policy of France.
1943 Sci. & Mech. Spring 99/1 The saddle is part of the carriage resting on the V-ways which causes the carriage to move in alignment with the lathe centers.
1998 Patchwork & Quilting Aug. 48/1 Keep both layers of fabric in alignment, with raw edges matching exactly.
P2. out of alignment: not in alignment, out of line; (in extended use) not in accord or agreement. Also with with.
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1841 Ordnance Man. for Use of Officers (U.S. Army Ordnance Dept.) i. 14 Variations allowed in the dimensions of brass cannon... Position of trunnions:..out of alignment .00.
1877 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 8 May 2/4 The accused..is out of alignment with the Confession of Faith to which he subscribed at his ordination.
1948 Antiquity 22 173 The wide road leading to its main entrance from the east is plainly out of alignment with the street grid on the west side of the Forum block.
1989 J. McPhee Control of Nature (1991) 148 The bump up to the carport..becomes high enough to knock the front wheels out of alignment.
2011 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 14 June d6/3 The eyes are out of alignment so the brain cannot fuse the images from each one.
Compounds
alignment chart n. = nomogram n.
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the world > relative properties > number > graph or diagram > [noun] > diagram
diagram1839
abac1890
histogram1891
alignment diagram1905
alignment chart1908
argand1908
nomogram1909
nomograph1909
histograph1915
Karnaugh map1958
Penrose diagram1973
1908 Amer. Machinist 14 May 761/1 Many other forms of equation may be easily handled by the alinement chart.
1958 Amer. Math. Monthly 65 228 Additional alignment charts have been devised for the apparent angular elevation as related to the ground range and linear height of the satellite.
2008 J. Bryant & C. Sangwin How Round is your Circle? xi. 249 As the name alignment chart suggests, it is used by placing a straight edge between the variables to find the value of the third.
alignment diagram n. a diagram showing alignments; spec. = alignment chart n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > graph or diagram > [noun] > diagram
diagram1839
abac1890
histogram1891
alignment diagram1905
alignment chart1908
argand1908
nomogram1909
nomograph1909
histograph1915
Karnaugh map1958
Penrose diagram1973
1905 Railway Age 27 Oct. 528/2 The accompanying profile and alignment diagrams, taken for two continuous sections of track, show the most severe conditions under which the motive power of this road has to operate.
1915 Trans. Amer. Soc. Civil Engin. 78 1382 Nomographic solutions for formulas... The alignment diagram has all the advantages over diagrams plotted by rectangular co-ordinates.
1991 Power Sept. 54/1 Software program produces alignment diagrams, graphs, and charts using laser optics.
2010 D. Saffer Designing for Interaction v. 98 Alignment diagrams make it easy to see where users have crucial decisions or activities, but no tool to help them perform it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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