ligature

See also: ligaturé

English

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Middle French [Term?], from Late Latin ligātura, from Latin ligātus, past participle of ligāre (“to tie, bind”).

Pronunciation
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈlɪɡətʃɚ/

Noun

ligature (countable and uncountable, plural ligatures)

Examples of ligatures
  1. (uncountable) The act of tying or binding something.
  2. (countable) A cord or similar thing used to tie something; especially the thread used in surgery to close a vessel or duct.
    • 2018: "She stalked the Golden State Killer until she died. Some think her work led to the suspect’s arrest." by Eli Rosenberg
      He hid shoelaces or rope under cushions to use as ligatures.
  3. A thread or wire used to remove tumours, etc.
  4. The state of being bound or stiffened; stiffness.
    the ligature of a joint
  5. (countable, typography) A character that visually combines multiple letters, such as æ, œ, ß or ij; also logotype. Sometimes called a typographic ligature.
  6. (countable, music) A group of notes played as a phrase, or the curved line that indicates such a phrase.
  7. (music) A curve or line connecting notes; a slur.
  8. (countable) A piece used to hold a reed to the mouthpiece on woodwind instruments.
  9. Impotence caused by magic or charms.

Derived terms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

ligature (third-person singular simple present ligatures, present participle ligaturing, simple past and past participle ligatured)

  1. (surgery) To ligate; to tie.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for ligature in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin ligātura, from Latin ligātus, past participle of ligō (“tie, bind”). Compare the popular Old French liüre.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /li.ɡa.tyʁ/

Noun

ligature f (plural ligatures)

  1. a tie; the action of tying
  2. a binding, notably in horticulture
  3. ligature; a character that combines multiple letters; logotype.

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Latin

Participle

ligātūre

  1. vocative masculine singular of ligātūrus
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