adhæsion

Noun

adhesion (usually uncountable, plural adhesions)

1. (usually) The ability of a substance to stick to an unlike substance.
2. (usually) Persistent attachment or loyalty.
   • [N]o waver in Judgment, have I, though Gods mercy, ever been; but a conſtant aſſertor of, and ſufferer for my ſatisfiedneſs in, and adheſion to, the piety and probity of my breeding and belief, vvhich vvas ever, yet is, and I hope, through Gods grace, to death ſhall be, in point of Religion...1666 October 30 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Edward Waterhous[e], “To His Noble Friend and Kinsman, Sr. Edwarde Turno[u]r, Knight; Speaker of the Honorable House of Commons in this Present...
3. (usually) An agreement to adhere.
   • Mistress Affery, heartily glad to effect the proposed compromise, gave in her willing adhesion to it.1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC
4. (usually) An abnormal union of surface by the formation of new tissue resulting from an inflammatory process.
5. (usually) The binding of a cell to a surface or substrate.
6. (usually) The frictional grip on a surface, of wheels, shoes etc.
   • Several types of diesel locomotive have been tested on this working and as a result the probable choice will be Type 2 diesels in pairs, without bankers. The crucial factor in the selection of this method is the higher degree of adhesion obtained than with a single Type 4; on trial one of the...1964 September, “News: Fewer diesels for NER in 1965”, in Modern Railways, page 201