adhesionn.
/ədˈhiːʒn/, /adˈhiːʒn/, U.S. /ædˈhiʒ(ə)n/, /ədˈhiʒ(ə)n/ I. General senses.† 3. † 4. A related or associated attribute, feature, or circumstance. Cf. adherent n. 2. Obsolete. rare.
1. † b. Relationship of attachment; alliance, association. Obsolete. rare.
a. Steadfast commitment to a person or thing; loyalty, allegiance; fidelity, devotion. Also: an instance of this. Cf. adherence n. 1. to give in one's adhesion to: to give one's allegiance to, declare one's support for (now rare and archaic).
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the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > support > support or encouragement > [noun] > adherency or attachedness
adhesiona1500
adherency1579
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 89 The Emperoure Eraclius..blyndid himself of heresye by adhesion [Fr. adhesion] gyven to the herretik Nestoryu[s].
1533 T. More 2nd Pt. Confut. Tyndals Answere vii. p. ccccxx If he meane by his felynge fayth, any forther suertye of the poyntes that he byleueth, then onely on vndouted assent and adhesyon therunto: then is yt not fayth, but a nother kynde of reuelacion.
a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 122 He was..separated from us in inseparable adhesion to perfection.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. vi. 20 The mortallest enemy unto knowledge..hath been a peremptory adhesion unto authority. View more context for this quotation
1732 T. Lediard tr. J. Terrasson Life Sethos II. viii. 166 [It] carries with it the condition of a sincere adhæsion to my interest.
1792 European Mag. & London Rev. Feb. 131/1 All the members..testified their adhesion to this proposition.
1839 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. July 78 Another difficult principle of Democracy.., his adhesion to which was doubted during the first few months of his quiet administration, Mr. Van Buren has carried into full effect.
1861 Illustr. London News 17 Aug. 152/1 Working classes..declare their adhesion to the socialist idea.
1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea I. xiii. 198 Austria had never ceased to declare her adhesion to her accustomed policy.
1889 Harper's Mag. Aug. 438/1 Thanks to the adhesion of the enlightened middle classes..the Church of the Old Catholics..drags on a precarious and colorless existence.
1890 Standard 5 Nov. 5/1 The formula to which Mr. Gladstone bids us believe they have given in their adhesion.
1908 Proc. Royal Soc. London 80 p. xlvi Alfred Newton was one of the first naturalists in this country to give in his adhesion to the views propounded by Charles Darwin.
1954 Eng. Hist. Rev. 69 276 On 1 January 1832 Carrel declared in the National his adhesion to republicanism.
1998 Church Times 7 Aug. 21/4 Anglicans once supposed themselves united by adhesion to scripture.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association for a common purpose > [noun]
onehead1340
alliance?a1400
union?a1425
union?1435
allya1445
alliage1450
allyc1450
association1535
sociation1579
combination1593
confederacy1594
adhesion1614
coalescency1645
togetherness1656
compendance1658
junction1783
affiliation1791
confederateship1837
allyship1849
solidification1891
togetherhood1896
we-ness1920
us-ness1927
1614 Bp. J. King Vitis Palatina 28 God so ordered the matter betwixt them, that this adhæsion and agglutination of one to the other [sc. man to woman] should be perpetuall.
1779 J. Moore View Society & Manners France II. xcvi. 436 There are, however, so many repelling points in the American and French characters, that I cannot imagine the adhesion between them could be of long duration.
c. Formal declaration of intent to abide by the terms of a treaty, join a political or economic union, etc., esp. by signing an agreement; an instance of this.
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1815 Caledonian Mercury 1 May Nothing has transpired as to the nature of the dispatches,..but it is surmised they contain the King's adhesion to the treaty of the 25th March.
1846 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Feb. 148/2 In relation to Mexico, the interests of England would be more promoted by its adhesion to the Union under a permanently liberal commercial policy.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 907/2 Like Belgium, Switzerland had before her adhesion to the Latin Monetary Union adopted the French system.
1914 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 8 101 The convention..specifically arranges for the adhesion of métropoles for their non-sovereign entities.
2004 P. A. Weitsman Dangerous Alliances v. 105 A final, crucial catalyst that compelled Russia to balance was the renewal of the Triple Alliance and rumored adhesion of Great Britain to it.
2. The action or process of physically adhering to something; the state of being joined together by adhesion; the degree to which two objects or surfaces are stuck together. Also occasionally: an instance of this. Cf. adherence n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > fact or action of being joined or joining > attachment > [noun] > adhesion
cleavingc1430
sticking1430
adheringc1550
adherence1555
clinging1572
adherency1579
suture1600
adhesion1615
stickage1726
readhesion1817
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 777 By the benefit of this adhesion or cleauing the blade also is mooued downward by this thirde muscle.
1662 R. Boyle Def. Doctr. Spring & Weight of Air i. iv. 10 I could not find the Adhesion of the Finger to the Tube to be near so strong as our Author hath related.
1735 H. Brooke Universal Beauty III. 17 The Tendrils..With fond Adhesion round the Cedar cling.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 120 The strong adhesion of two leaden balls which touch by polished surfaces.
1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect i. ii. 188 Clamminess is a distinct sensation arising from the adhesion of a substance to the skin.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. §23. 352 A new adhesion occurs which holds the pieces together.
1907 B. P. Colton Physiol. vi. 88 In pleurisy..pain is felt in breathing from friction or adhesion of these surfaces.
1947 W. J. Brierley in P. I. Smith Pract. Plastics xxii. 292/2 The resultant reinforced plywood is very strong and flexible and the adhesion is extremely good.
2003 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 23 Nov. 105/2 Dovetail the edges..to allow for better adhesion.
a. A substance which adheres to something. Obsolete.
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1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica ii. v. 85 The strigments and sudorous adhesions from mens hands. View more context for this quotation
1658 Sir T. Browne Garden of Cyrus iii, in Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall 156 The regular spots in their [sc. butterflies'] wings seem but a mealie adhesion.
1718 J. Quincy Pharmacopœia Officinalis ii. 126 Upon this account it is very good in all Obstructions of the Reins, whether from Sand or any mucous Adhesions.
b. A structure which adheres to something; (also) a structure which binds two things together. Obsolete.
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1710 tr. C. G. Le Clerc 2nd Pt. Compl. Surgeon 246 The Back-bone, says he, is crooked like a Roman S, and this depends on the different adhesions of the Muscles.
1743 tr. L. Heister Gen. Syst. Surg. I. ii. 300 Having freed the disordered Artery from its adhesions to the adjacent Nerves, it is then elevated by a Hook.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > accompaniment > [noun] > accompanying circumstance
adherency1608
adherenta1610
concomitant1621
concomitancy1631
collateral1641
concomitance1652
comitant1654
adhesion1827
collateralism1834
1827 T. Carlyle Richter in Edinb. Rev. June 190 Casting off all foreign, especially all noxious adhesions.
1889 E. B. Tylor in Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 18 247 On looking out from the schedules the adhesions of this avoidance-custom, a relation appears between it and the customs of the world as to residence after marriage.
II. Technical senses.
5. Medicine. Abnormal attachment of one organ, surface, etc., to another, esp. by the formation of fibrous tissue following inflammation; an instance of this. Cf. sense 6.
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1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. viii. xiv. 350 This stubborne adhesion [L. adhaesio] happens by the intervention of the viscide matter, or by meanes of some excoriation caused by the rude hand of a Chirurgion, in too violently forcing of the Gut, or Kall, into their place.
1738 E. Chambers Cycl. (ed. 2) at Adhesion Anatomists sometimes observe prosphyses, or Adhesions of the lungs to the sides of the thorax, the pleura, and diaphragm.
1804 J. Abernethy Surg. Observ. 224 A very slight adhesion had taken place between the sigmoid flexure of the colon and..the peritoneum.
1847 E. J. Seymour Severe Dis. I. 16 Adhesion of the gall-bladder to the bowels and subsequent ulceration.
1890 Retrospect Pract. Med. & Surg. C. Jan. 309 Adhesion of the placenta to the uterus is also a cause of placental retention. Such adhesion results from inflammation of the placenta.
1904 E. H. Fenwick Handbk. Clin. Electr.-light Cystosc. xxi. 439 An acute bend of the ureter, due to adhesion or mal-insertion in movable kidney.
1967 H. Hill & E. Dodsworth Food Inspection Notes (ed. 7) 29 Putridity occurs after rupture of œsophagus, exudate being thick, creamy, foul, adhesion between parietal and visceral layers may occur.
1998 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Nov. 169/1 There is a condition called adhesion, where the hood sticks to the clitoris, so it doesn't expose the glans.
2004 Internat. Surg. 89 190 Pleural tears usually occur after pneumolysis for dense adhesion or after cone biopsy of lung parenchyma.
6. Medicine. An abnormal formation or structure joining two parts of the body; spec. a fibrinous or fibrous band connecting two serosal surfaces. Cf. sense 3b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > [noun] > abnormal or morbid tissue
adherence1667
adhesion1698
bridle1739
membrane1765
pseudomembrane1824
heterology1854
neoplasm1863
synechia1873
heteroplasm1878
paraplasm1890
paraplasma1890
heteromorphosis1891
1698 W. Cowper Anat. Humane Bodies Table 24 sig. N/1 They very often appear in Filaments more or less Divided, and I am apt to think are frequently the Beginnings of those Adhesions of the Lungs with the Pleura.
1707 J. Douglas Myographiæ Comparatæ Specimen p. xix And in the Fissure of their inner Membrane there are placed abundance of small Glands, which separate an Humour for moistening them, and thereby hinder Preternatural Adhesions to the Parts they touch.
1742 J. Atkins Navy Surgeon (new ed.) 238 If Necessity calls for it, or an Adhesion should require more than one such Cut, it is better to take off the whole Prepuce.
1793 M. Baillie Morbid Anat. i. 6 Such adhesions are to be considered as the consequence of previous inflammation.
1839–47 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. III. 748/1 The adhesions which are formed by the consolidation of coagulable lymph.
1895 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 5 Jan. 1/2 The fibro-serous adhesions between the stomach and the parietes were as firm as ever.
1923 A. Duane tr. E. Fuchs Text-bk. Ophthalmol. xviii. 372 If the observer, standing to one side, holds the ophthalmoscopic mirror almost at right angles to the patient's line of sight, he can see deposits and adhesions in the angle of the anterior chamber.
1974 R. Passmore & J. S. Robson Compan. Med. Stud. III. i. xix. 87/2 Adhesions are a common cause of intestinal obstruction.
2004 Daily Tel. 4 May 16/2 More than 90 per cent of people who undergo almost any type of abdominal or pelvic surgery are affected by adhesions.
7. Physics. Attraction between two objects or surfaces in close proximity as a physical phenomenon; spec. attraction between molecules of different substances (contrasted with cohesion between molecules of a single substance).A number of different mechanisms can be involved in adhesion, including chemical bonding, van der Waals forces, and molecular diffusion.Quot. 1784 shows adhesion and cohesion being used synonymously rather than contrasted.
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1784 tr. L. Spallanzani Diss. Nat. Hist. I. 291 The cohesion and solidity of substances, is in his opinion owing to the fixed air they contain. Now when..this is taken away, the mutual adhesion of the several parts will be destroyed.]
1786 Monthly Rev. Dec. 406 The adhering of two polished plates of marble..is attributed to a false cause. It is by pressure of the atmosphere alone that this adhesion is effected; and the attraction of cohesion has nothing to do in the matter.
1804 T. Thomson Syst. Chem. (ed. 2) III. 249 Whenever the cohesion of any liquid is much inferior to the force of its adhesion to any solid, the separation takes place in the particles of the liquid itself, and consequently we do not obtain the measure of its adhesion to the solid, but of its own cohesion.
1866 C. Tomlinson Cycl. Useful Arts (new ed.) III. 229/2 A saturated solution..is one in which the adhesion of the solvent and the cohesion of the solvend mutually balance each other.
1908 A. H. Gibson Hydraulics & its Applic. i. 5 Cohesion is that property of a liquid, or solid, which enables neighbouring molecules to resist any stress of the nature of a tension. Adhesion is that property which enables it to adhere to a solid body with which it may be in contact.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XI. 782/1 The cohesion of mercury is greater than its adhesion to glass and it does not wet the glass.
2004 Aquascape Lifestyles Summer 38/2 The plastic is what we call a hydrophobic material, meaning it does not exhibit strong adhesion properties with water.
8. Medicine. The reuniting of the edges of a wound by the natural processes of healing. primary adhesion n. healing by first intention. secondary adhesion n. healing by second intention. See intention n. 10b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > recovery > process of healing of an injury, etc. > [noun] > growing together
unionc1475
adhesion1793
1793 W. Weldon Observ. Puncturing Bladder 72 If the edges of the wound do not unite by adhesion, the inflammation gradually extends, by a sort of sympathy, over the whole cavity of the peritoneum.
1800 J. Burns Diss. Inflammation II. ii. 5 We are then chiefly to search after, and extract foreign bodies, when we apprehend that their removal may permit the inflammation to be resolved, and adhesion to take place.
1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflammation 125 The first [mode] is by adhesion without granulation; this Galen termed re-union by the first intention; the second is re-union by granulation..re-union by the second intention.
1867 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Oct. 356/1 The imposing circumstances of the operation have made all surgeons feel the..necessity of closing the wound at once..and endeavouring to obtain reunion of the abdominal wall..by direct adhesion, uncomplicated by suppuration.
1959 P. Weiss in W. B. Patterson Wound Healing & Tissue Repair i. 3 The existence of highly specialized ultramicroscopic devices for cellular attachment (rather than plain adhesion)..must be taken into account when considering the mobilization of the epidermis for wound healing.
2009 Res. Vet. Sci. 87 353/2 Since the process of healing was investigated after the surgical suture, this model was considered to be a model of primary adhesion.
9. Botany. Originally: the superficial attachment of one organ of a plant (esp. of the inflorescence) to another. In later use: spec. such an attachment to a dissimilar part, as a stamen to a petal; frequently contrasted with cohesion n. 2. Cf. adnation n. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > growth, movement, or curvature of parts > [noun] > cohesion or adhesion
adhesion1808
adherence1818
cohesion1835
symphysis1866
1808 Curtis's Bot. Mag. 28 §1102 The adhesion of the alternate stamens sometimes varies in different flowers of the same plant, but seldom exceeds the distance of half their length.
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. Introd. 27 Or they [sc. stamens] contract an adhesion..with either the calyx or corolla, when they become perigynous.
1872 D. Oliver Lessons Elem. Bot. (new ed.) i. iv. 27 Union of corolla to stamens, or ovary to calyx, or of stamens to corolla or to pistil, is due to adhesion—parts of different whorls or series being concerned.
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 546 (note) It has come to be the usage in English works on descriptive botany to apply the term ‘cohesion’ to the apparent union of organs of the same kind, ‘adhesion’ to the apparent union of organs of a different kind.
1905 H. M. Ward Trees III. x. 87 In some cases the fusion is still more complete, comprising not only cohesion of stamen and stamen, but also adhesion with the gynœecium.
1936 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 23 390/2 It must be borne in mind that there is no adhesion..between the bundles of the various whorls of organs in these latter types.
1974 Kew Bull. 29 425 The Rhodesian plant likewise has larger petals, and the ‘funnel’ formed by the adhesion of column and labellum is not so pronounced.
10. Mechanics. The frictional grip of a wheel on a rail, road surface, etc.; the friction that gives rise to this; spec. (in a railway engine) the maximum force that can be transmitted by a driving wheel expressed as a proportion of the total load on the wheel.
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the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > rubbing or friction > [noun]
frotting?c1225
chafinga1398
rubbinga1398
confricationc1400
frettingc1400
attrition1601
fricacing1607
perfrication1607
triture1607
affrication1615
affriction1615
confriction1617
rub1618
frication1631
intertrigation1651
perfriction1656
friction1718
interfrication1747
adhesion1825
chafe1848
interfriction1854
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > fact or action of being joined or joining > attachment > [noun] > adhesion > produced by friction
adhesion1825
bite1865
binding1881
1825 N. Wood Pract. Treat. Rail-roads iv. 139 The adhesion of the engine-wheels alone was found sufficiently adequate to produce the desired effect.
1839 P. Lecount Pract. Treat. Railways 222 The adhesion of engines may be taken as at least equal to 1/ 10th part of the weight on the driving wheel.
1865 Engin. Facts & Figures 1864 175 Its highest power of adhesion..is nearly equal to 15/ 100 of the total weight of the engine.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 168/1 A wet rail will prevent the use of the theoretical adhesion of the driving wheels.
1954 Pop. Sci. Aug. 101/2 If the turn is going to make tire-to-road adhesion chancy, you can't afford to spend adhesion in braking.
2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Jan. viii. 11/3 Neither car did as well in Road & Track's tests for braking distance or adhesion on a skidpad as, say, a Mini Cooper S.
11. Physiology. The binding of cells to each other or to a substrate, typically by means of specialized cell-surface molecules (see adhesion molecule n. at Compounds 2); an instance of this.
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1843 W. B. Carpenter Princ. Human Physiol. (new ed.) 439 Some hours later, the mass exhibits an evidently fibrous character; and this is due to the adhesion of the cells to each other in lines.
1889 L. S. Beale Liver 72 The apparent connection of the cells with one another has been accounted for by a supposed adhesion of the cells.
1915 New Internat. Encycl. XII. 739/1 Actual union [of flower parts] is due to the adhesion of young surface cells of organs which are closely crowded as they are forming.
1956 Jrnl. Gen. Physiol. 39 813 It is suggested that the new antigens are concerned with cell adhesion.
1977 Ann. Internal Med. 86 605/2 Although this test was called in-vivo platelet adhesiveness, it did not really differentiate between adhesion and aggregation because both processes contribute to the ‘consumption’ of platelets.
1989 B. Alberts et al. Molecular Biol. Cell (ed. 2) xiv. 831 (heading) Cell-surface molecules that mediate cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion can be viewed as elements of a morphogenetic code.
2010 Regulatory Peptides 163 80/1 This hormone participates..not only in pro-inflammatory effects, angiogenesis, and inducement of the propagation and adhesion of cells, but is also involved in the final rupture of the plaque.
12. Psychology. In the terminology of A. Bain: intimate and involuntary association of ideas and action. Cf. adhesiveness n. 3. Now disused.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > psychology of ideas > association of ideas > [noun] > with action
adhesion1855
1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect i. i. 322 There grows up in course of time an adhesion between the tension of the rotator muscles and the several movements of walking, and at last they coalesce in one complex whole.
1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect i. i. 325 It is within the cerebral hemispheres that the adhesion takes place.
1895 J. M. Baldwin Mental Developm. in Child & Race vii. 185 The contiguous adhesion between the two states, the state of feeling and the appropriate muscle states.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. With reference to railways that rely on adhesion between wheels and track (in contrast to railways using a rack and pinion).
ΚΠ
1863 Inst. Mech. Engineers: Proc. 95 On many railways an adhesion weight of 40 tons has now become insufficient.
1878 Professional Papers Indian Engin. 7 63 Long steep inclines worked by adhesion locomotives, are everywhere wholly unproductive.
1933 Discovery Feb. 57/2 A proposed adhesion railway to follow up a forest-clad Serra in South America.
1989 J. Gunn Along Parallel Lines 6 Ten years earlier, the world's first simple adhesion locomotive..had been built by Richard Trevithick.
2002 B. Solomon Railway Masterpieces (2003) 138 (caption) This line is so steeply graded that a conventional adhesion railway is impractical.
b. In other senses.
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1897 W. G. Smith tr. K. F. von Tubeuf Dis. Plants i. i. 10 The mycelium retains its hold by adhesion-discs.
1945 R. Y. Keers & B. G. Rigden Pulmonary Tuberculosis xi. 193 Adhesion formation is preventing effective collapse of the lung.
1978 Nature 7 Dec. 625/1 The negative charge imparted by the sulphate group of the sulphatide does not seem to be the direct cause of its strong adhesion capacity.
2004 O. Geschke et al. Microsystem Engin. Lab-on-a-chip Devices vii. 166 Adhesion bonding or gluing has also been widely used for assembling wafer pairs.
C2.
adhesion contract n. chiefly North American Law = contract of adhesion n. at contract n.1 Additions.
ΚΠ
1927 Univ. Pennsylvania Law Rev. 76 102 The growing tendency of the law to interpret the ‘adhesion’ contracts of insurance companies as strictly as possible against the insurers.
1981 Los Angeles Times 26 May (You section) 7/2 In cases in which the party that drafts an adhesion contract has sought enforcement of an arbitration clause, courts have sometimes refused to enforce the clause in the absence of ‘plain and clear’ notification to the weaker party.
2011 C. Thomas in A. Blackett Social Regionalism in Global Econ. xiii. 281 The agreement operates like an adhesion contract, establishing the terms and conditions of the workplace without the opportunity for meaningful consent or actual bargaining between employer and employee.
adhesion molecule n. Molecular Biology = cell adhesion molecule n. at cell n.1 Compounds 3.
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1972 S. D. Rosen (title of Ph.D diss., Cornell Univ.) Possible assay for intercellular adhesion molecules.
1989 B. Alberts et al. Molecular Biol. Cell (ed. 2) xvi. 941 Cell-cell adhesion molecules and cell-matrix adhesion molecules can thus be viewed as two key types of device for translating patterns of positional information into patterns of morphogenetic movement.
2008 Cell Stress & Chaperones 13 275 Successful imaging of fully developed atherosclerotic lesions has been achieved in experimental models, notably targeting adhesion molecules such as vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, an adhesion molecule for effector/memory T cells homing to areas of inflammation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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