Attach \At*tach"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Attached; p. pr. & vb. n. Attaching.]

[OF. atachier, F. attacher, to tie or fasten: cf. Celt. tac, tach, nail, E. tack a small nail, tack to fasten. Cf. Attack, and see Tack.]

1. To bind, fasten, tie, or connect; to make fast or join; as, to attach one thing to another by a string, by glue, or the like.

The shoulder blade is . . . attached only to the muscles. --Paley.

A huge stone to which the cable was attached. --Macaulay.

2. To connect; to place so as to belong; to assign by authority; to appoint; as, an officer is attached to a certain regiment, company, or ship.

3. To win the heart of; to connect by ties of love or self-interest; to attract; to fasten or bind by moral influence; -- with to; as, attached to a friend; attaching others to us by wealth or flattery.

Incapable of attaching a sensible man. --Miss Austen.

God . . . by various ties attaches man to man. --Cowper.

4. To connect, in a figurative sense; to ascribe or attribute; to affix; -- with to; as, to attach great importance to a particular circumstance.

Top this treasure a curse is attached. --Bayard Taylor.

5. To take, seize, or lay hold of. [Obs.]

--Shak.

6. To take by legal authority:
   (a) To arrest by writ, and bring before a court, as to answer for a debt, or a contempt; -- applied to a taking of the person by a civil process; being now rarely used for the arrest of a criminal.
   (b) To seize or take (goods or real estate) by virtue of a writ or precept to hold the same to satisfy a judgment which may be rendered in the suit. See Attachment, 4.

The earl marshal attached Gloucester for high treason. --Miss Yonge.

Attached column (Arch.), a column engaged in a wall, so that only a part of its circumference projects from it.

Syn: To affix; bind; tie; fasten; connect; conjoin; subjoin; annex; append; win; gain over; conciliate.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)