align

• aline (obsolete)

From Middle English alynen, alinen (“copulate”), from Middle French aligner, from Old French alignier, from a- + lignier, from Latin lineare (“make straight or perpendicular”), from the noun linea (“line”), from līneus (“flaxen; flaxen [thing]”), from līnum (“flax”), likely ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *līnom (compare linen).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈlaɪn/, /æˈlaɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪn

align (third-person singular simple present aligns, present participle aligning, simple past and past participle aligned)

1. (intransitive) To form a line; to fall into line.

   The pedestrians aligned in such a way that from above they made a pyramidal pattern.

2. (transitive) To adjust to a line; to range or form in line; to bring into line.
3. (transitive) To organize in a consistent, defined way, perhaps in an abstract sense.
4. (intransitive, reflexive) To identify (oneself) with, match, or support the behaviour, thoughts, etc. of another person, organization, or country.

   Synonyms: ally, support

5. (transitive, computing) To store (data) in a way that is consistent with the memory architecture, i.e. by beginning each item at an offset equal to some multiple of the word size.
6. (transitive, bioinformatics) To organize a linear arrangement of DNA, RNA, or protein sequences which have regions of similarity.
7. (transitive, information science) To identify entities that refer to the same real-world object in different knowledge bases.

• Gilan, Glina, Laing, Langi, Liang, algin, ganil, liang, ligan, linga