n.
- the action or fact of uniting or being united.
▸a state of harmony or agreement.
▸a marriage.
▸
(the Union)
the uniting of the English and Scottish crowns in 1603, of the English and Scottish parliaments in 1707, or of the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.
- a society or association formed by people with a common interest or purpose, especially a trade union.
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(also Union)
a political unit consisting of a number of states or provinces with the same central government, especially the US.
▸
(the Union)
the northern states of the US in the American Civil War.
- Mathematics the set that comprises all the elements (and no others) contained in any of two or more given sets.
- a joint or coupling for pipes.
- a part of a flag with an emblem symbolizing national union, normally in the upper corner next to the staff.
- a fabric made of different yarns, typically cotton and linen or silk.
- Brit. historical a number of parishes consolidated for administering the Poor Laws.
Etymology
ME: from OFr., or from eccles. L. unio(n-) ‘unity’, from L. unus ‘one’.