weld

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to join pieces of metal or plastic permanently by heat, pressure, or both

   Technicians will weld the steel plates along every edge.

2. 2
   verb

   to unite people or things closely into a single whole

   Shared hardship can weld a group into a loyal team.

3. 3
   noun

   a joint or union produced by welding

   The inspector found a hairline crack beside the weld.

4. 4
   noun

   a European plant, Reseda luteola, formerly cultivated as a source of yellow dye

   Weld once supplied dyers with a strong yellow pigment.

The metalworking verb, recorded in the late sixteenth century, is an alteration of obsolete well, 'to boil or bubble,' from Middle English wellen; the figurative union sense followed. The dye-plant noun is an unrelated older word from Old English *wealde, possibly connected with wald, 'forest.'

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