allyest

Verb

ally (third-person singular simple present allies, present participle allying, simple past and past participle allied)

1. (transitive) To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty.
   • Theſe three did loue each other dearely well, / And with ſo firme affection were allyde, / As if but one ſoule in them all did dvvell, / VVhich did her povvre into three parts diuyde; […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 43, page 33
2. (transitive) Chiefly followed by to or with: to connect or form a relation to (someone or something) by similarity in features or nature.
   • Yes in good ſooth, the vice is of a great kindred; it is vvell allied, but it is impoſſible to extirpe it quite, Frier, till eating and drinking be put dovvne.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
3. (reflexive, transitive) To join or unite (oneself or itself) against, with, etc., someone or something else.
   • To be ſhort, hauing thus ingrafted them into the body of his [God's] Sonne, he ioyneth and allieth him ſelfe to them, he maketh him ſelfe one with them, maketh them his children and heyres, partakers of his immortalitie and glorie, and all this he worketh by the inward vertue of his holy Ghost, […]1577, Peter de la Place [i.e. Pierre de la Place], “Of the Excellencie of a Christian Man, and the Way to Knowe Him”, in L[aurence] Tomson, transl., A Treatise of the Excellencie of a Christian Man...
4. (intransitive) Chiefly followed by with: to enter into an alliance or unite for a common aim.
   • [A]ftervvards he [Constantine the Great] allied vvith Licinius, and gave him his Siſter in marriage, and acknovvledged him his Colleague in the Empire.1673, Gilbert Burnet, “The First Conference”, in A Vindication of the Authority, Constitution, and Laws of the Church and State of Scotland. […], Glasgow: Robert Sanders, […], →OCLC, page 62

   Synonyms:

   make common cause

See all 15 meanings of ally