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De - Pt| English Dictionary: Affinities | by the DICT Development Group |
| 1 result for Affinities | |
| From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
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Affinity \Af*fin"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Affinities}. [OF. afinit[82], F. affinit[82], L. affinites, fr. affinis. See {Affined}.] 1. Relationship by marriage (as between a husband and his wife's blood relations, or between a wife and her husband's blood relations); -- in contradistinction to consanguinity, or relationship by blood; -- followed by with, to, or between. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh. --1 Kings iii. 1. 2. Kinship generally; close agreement; relation; conformity; resemblance; connection; as, the affinity of sounds, of colors, or of languages. There is a close affinity between imposture and credulity. --Sir G. C. Lewis. 2. Companionship; acquaintance. [Obs.] About forty years past, I began a happy affinity with William Cranmer. --Burton. 4. (Chem.) That attraction which takes place, at an insensible distance, between the heterogeneous particles of bodies, and unites them to form chemical compounds; chemism; chemical or elective affinity or attraction. 5. (Nat. Hist.) A relation between species or highe[?] groups dependent on resemblance in the whole plan of structure, and indicating community of origin. 6. (Spiritualism) A superior spiritual relationship or attraction held to exist sometimes between persons, esp. persons of the opposite sex; also, the man or woman who exerts such psychical or spiritual attraction. | |
