<B>assign, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to give as a task to be done or as a share; allot. <BR> <I>Ex. The teacher has assigned ten problems for today.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to appoint (to a post or duty); designate. <BR> <I>Ex. The captain assigned two soldiers to guard the gate.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to name definitely; fix; set. <BR> <I>Ex. The judge assigned a day for the trial.</I> (SYN) settle, determine, specify. <DD><B> 4. </B>to ascribe as belonging to; attribute; refer. <BR> <I>Ex. A student should be able to assign events to their places in history.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to transfer or hand over (property or a right) legally. <BR> <I>Ex. Mr. Jones assigned his home and farm to his creditors.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a person to whom property or a right is legally transferred. adj. <B>assignable.</B> adv. <B>assignably.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="assignability">
<B>assignability, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> capability of being assigned. </DL>
<A NAME="assignat">
<B>assignat, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a piece of paper money issued between 1789 and 1796 by the French revolutionary government, based on the value of confiscated lands. </DL>
<A NAME="assignation">
<B>assignation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a secret meeting of lovers. <DD><B> 2. </B>the appointment of a time and place for such a meeting. <DD><B> 3. </B>an allotting; apportionment. <DD><B> 4. </B>the legal transfer, as of property or right. </DL>
<A NAME="assignedconvict">
<B>assigned convict,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a convict in colonial Australia committed to the custody of a settler or a military officer as a servant. </DL>
<A NAME="assignedrisk">
<B>assigned risk,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) an insurance risk which an insurance company would not normally accept but which, under State law, is assigned on a prorated basis to insurance companies at an extra premium. </DL>
<A NAME="assignee">
<B>assignee, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person to whom some right or property is legally transferred. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who is officially appointed to act for another; deputy. </DL>
<A NAME="assigner">
<B>assigner, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who assigns, allots, or apportions. </DL>
<A NAME="assignment">
<B>assignment, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>something assigned, especially a piece of work to be done, or a responsibility allotted to a particular person, group, or organization. <BR> <I>Ex. Today's assignment in arithmetic consists of ten problems.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the act of assigning; appointment. <BR> <I>Ex. The soldier was informed of his assignment to a new base.</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>the legal transfer of some property or right. <DD><B> b. </B>the document that authorizes this transfer. </DL>
<A NAME="assignor">
<B>assignor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who legally transfers to another some property or right. </DL>
<A NAME="assimilability">
<B>assimilability, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> capability of being assimilated. </DL>
<A NAME="assimilable">
<B>assimilable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be assimilated. </DL>
<A NAME="assimilado">
<B>assimilado, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a native in Portuguese colonies who is literate or educated and therefore eligible for Portuguese citizenship. </DL>
<A NAME="assimilate">
<B>assimilate, </B>verb, <B>-lated,</B> <B>-lating,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1a. </B>to change (food) into living tissues; digest. <BR> <I>Ex. The human body will not assimilate sawdust.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) to take in and make a part of oneself; absorb. <BR> <I>Ex. She reads so much that she does not assimilate it all.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to make like the people of a nation or other group in customs, viewpoint, character, or other attribute. <BR> <I>Ex. We have assimilated immigrants from many lands. By living a long time with the Indians, he was assimilated to them in his thinking and actions.</I> (SYN) incorporate. <DD><B> 3. </B>to make (a speech sound, usually a consonant) more like the sound which follows or precedes. (SYN) adapt. Consonants are frequently assimilated to neighboring consonants; <I>ads-</I> becomes <I>ass-; comr-, corr-; disf-, diff-.</I> See also <B>assimilation,</B> def. 4. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1a. </B>to be changed into living tissue; be digested. <BR> <I>Ex. The woody, fibers of plants will not assimilate into the human body.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) to be taken into oneself; absorb. <BR> <I>Ex. After he has watched television all day, nothing will assimilate through his senses.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to become like the people of a nation, or other group in customs, viewpoint, character or other attribute. <BR> <I>Ex. Many immigrants assimilate readily in this country.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to become like. <DD><I>noun </I> (Obsolete.) that which is like. noun <B>assimilator.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="assimilation">
<B>assimilation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of assimilating. <BR> <I>Ex. Life depends on the assimilation of food.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of being assimilated. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Sociology.) the process by which immigrants or other newcomers become like the people they are around, adopting the attitudes and cultural patterns of the society into which they have come. <DD><B> 4. </B>the alteration of a speech sound influenced by a neighboring sound, which makes it more like the neighboring sound. </DL>
<A NAME="assimilationism">
<B>assimilationism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the principles or practices of persons who favor the assimilation of various ethnic groups in a country or region. n., adj. <B>assimilationist.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="assimilative">
<B>assimilative, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> assimilating; connected with, or promoting assimilation. <BR> <I>Ex. the assimilative functions of the body.</I> noun <B>assimilativeness.</B> </DL>
<B>Assiniboin</B> or <B>Assiniboine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of a Siouan tribe of northeastern Montana and adjacent parts of Canada. <DD><B> 2. </B>the language of this tribe. </DL>
<A NAME="assise">
<B>assise, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a geological formation consisting of parallel beds of rock bearing the same types of fossils. </DL>
<A NAME="assist">
<B>assist, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to give aid to; help (a person) either in doing something or when in need. <BR> <I>Ex. She assisted her mother with the housework.</I> (SYN) aid, support, succor. <DD><B> 2. </B>to further or promote (an action or process). <BR> <I>Ex. These tablets assist digestion.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to be the assistant of (a person). <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to give aid; help. <BR> <I>Ex. When all assist, the job can be done quickly.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to be present (at) either as a spectator or as one taking part in a ceremony or observance. <BR> <I>Ex. The congregation assists at divine service.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(U.S. Sports.) to help a teammate directly in making a play that scores in basketball, in hockey or soccer, or baseball, or that helps to put a runner out in baseball. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>(Informal.) an act of assistance; aid; help. <BR> <I>Ex. With an assist from my brother we reached the top of the hill. The strongest assist to Canada's claim was the judgment rendered by the World Court (Canada Month).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Sports.) a play that assists. noun <B>assister.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="assistance">
<B>assistance, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of assisting; help; aid. <BR> <I>Ex. I need your assistance.</I> (SYN) support, backing, succor. <DD><B> 2. </B>the help or aid given. <BR> <I>Ex. a grant of $2,000 as assistance toward a degree.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="assistant">
<B>assistant, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person who assists another, such as a superior in some office or work; helper; aid. <BR> <I>Ex. I was her assistant in the library for a time.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a thing or device that helps or aids. <BR> <I>Ex. Rhyme and meter are assistants to memory.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>helping; assisting; subordinate. <BR> <I>Ex. She is an assistant teacher.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>helpful; auxiliary (to). <BR> <I>Ex. Beasts of burden are animals assistant to man.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="assistantprofessor">
<B>assistant professor,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially U.S. and Canada.) a teacher ranking next below an associate professor and above an instructor. </DL>
<A NAME="assistantship">
<B>assistantship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the office or position of assistant. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) a position below that of an instructor in a college or university, usually held by a graduate student on a part-time basis. <BR> <I>Ex. A research assistantship to provide training in science writing will be available for an outstanding graduate student in February (Science).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="assistedsuicide">
<B>assisted suicide,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the act of giving assistance or advice to a terminally ill person in order to commit suicide. <BR> <I>Ex. Voters turned down initiatives that would have legalized assisted suicide if a patient wrote out a "death directive" (Nancy Gibbs).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="assistor">
<B>assistor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Law.) a person who assists; assister. </DL>
<A NAME="assize">
<B>assize, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>a session of a law court. <DD><B> b. </B>the time or place of such a session. <DD><B> 2. </B>the action to be decided by a trial. <DD><B> 3. </B>the writ instituting the trial. <DD><B> 4. </B>verdict; judgment. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Scottish.) a trial by jury. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Obsolete.) <DD><B> a. </B>an ordinance, especially as to measures, weights, or prices. <DD><B> b. </B>the standard prescribed. <BR><I>expr. <B>assizes,</B> </I>periodical sessions of a law court formerly held in each county of England. <BR> <I>Ex. He will be tried at the local assizes.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="assn">
<B>assn.,</B> <B>ass'n,</B> or <B>Assn.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> association. </DL>
<B>associability, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality of being associable. </DL>
<A NAME="associable">
<B>associable, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>that can be associated, joined, or connected. <DD><B> 2. </B>belonging to a cooperative economic or trade association of several countries. <BR> <I>Ex. Kingston was the venue for the meeting ... between the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific) associable states and the EEC (Sheila Patterson).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> an associable country or state. noun <B>associableness.</B> </DL>
