adhere

Verb

adhere (third-person singular simple present adheres, present participle adhering, simple past and past participle adhered)

1. (intransitive) To stick fast or cleave, as a glutinous substance does; to become joined or united.
   • Wax adhered to his finger.
   • The sure test of the presence of the disease is found in the dead body of the larva, which is dark and discoloured; and if a toothpick or pin be thrust into it and then drawn back, the body contents will adhere to it in a stringy mass, to the extent of a half or even an entire inch, as if it were...1905, Anna Botsford Comstock, chapter 16, in How to Keep Bees

   Synonyms:

   cleave, cling, stick

2. (figuratively, intransitive) To be attached or devoted by personal union, in belief, on principle, etc.
   • Upon the whole, if, by the British dominions, you mean territories subject to the Parliament, you adhere to your usual fallacy, and suppose what you are bound to prove.1775 February 23, Alexander Hamilton, “The Farmer Refuted, &c., [23 February] 1775”, in Harold C. Syrett, editor, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, volumes 1, 1768–1778, New York: Columbia University...
   • King Ferdinand adopted the magnanimous measure recommended by the queen, but he accompanied it with several shrewd conditions, exacting tribute, military services, and safe passages and maintenance for Christian troops throughout the places which should adhere to Boabdil.1829, Washington Irving, chapter 20, in Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada
3. (figuratively, intransitive) To be consistent or coherent; to be in accordance; to agree.
   • For the most part, Hefner's female companions all adhered to the same mold: twentysomething, bosomy and blonde. "Well, I guess I know what I like," he once said when asked about his preferences.2017 September 27, David Browne, “Hugh Hefner, 'Playboy' Founder, Dead at 91”, in Rolling Stone
4. (transitive) To fasten by adhesion.
   • A process in producing playing balls which consists molding a pair of hollow hemispheres from suitable air proof mate rial softening their edges by heat and adhering them to form a unitary hollow sphere inclosing said sphere in a stiffened envelop.1903 May 16, ADDISON T SAUNDERS, 785,184 MANUFACTURE OF PLAYING BALLS, US Patent 157,363 (PDF version), page 568
   • press on the two layers of paste to adhere them together […].1920, Charles Ranhofer, The Epicurean: A Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art, page 211
5. (intransitive, Scots law) To affirm a judgment.