the place at which two things, or separate parts of one thing, are joined or united, either rigidly or in such a way as to permit motion; juncture.
a connection between pieces of wood, metal, or the like, often reinforced with nails, screws, or glue.
Anatomy, Zoology.
the movable or fixed place or part where two bones or elements of a skeleton join.
the form or structure of such a part, as a ball-and-socket, hinge, pivot, etc.
Chiefly British. one of the large portions into which a section of meat is divided by a butcher, as the shoulder or leg, especially as served at a dining table.
a dirty, cheap, or disreputable place of public accommodation or entertainment, especially a restaurant or nightclub.
a place or establishment, as a hotel, restaurant, etc.: We stayed in a very classy joint near the ocean.
Biology.
a part, especially of a plant, insect, etc., connected with another part by an articulation, node, or the like.
a portion between two articulations, nodes, or the like.
Botany. the part of a stem from which a branch or leaf grows; node.
Geology. a fracture plane in rocks, generally at right angles to the bedding of sedimentary rocks and variously oriented in igneous and metamorphic rocks, commonly arranged in two or more sets of parallel intersecting systems.
shared by or common to two or more: a joint obligation.
undertaken or produced by two or more in conjunction or in common: a joint reply; a joint effort.
sharing or acting in common: joint members of a committee.
joined or associated, as in relation, interest, or action: joint owners.
Law. joined together in obligation or ownership: joint heirs.
of or relating to both branches of a bicameral legislature.
pertaining to or noting diplomatic action in which two or more governments are formally united.
verb (used with object)
to unite by a joint or joints.
to form or provide with a joint or joints.
to cut (a fowl, piece of meat, etc.) at the joint; divide at a joint; separate into pieces at the joints: to joint a chicken.
Carpentry.
to prepare (a board or the like) for fitting in a joint.
to true the bottom of (a wooden plane body) to allow even movement along the surface of the work.
to file the teeth of (a saw) to uniform height.
Masonry. to finish (a mortar joint), as by striking.
verb (used without object)
to fit together by or as if by joints: The cinder blocks jointed neatly.
Idioms
out of joint,
dislocated, as a bone.
in an unfavorable state; inauspicious: The time is out of joint.
out of keeping; inappropriate: Such behavior seems wholly out of joint with their fine upbringing.
Origin of joint
1250–1300;1900–05for def 6; Middle English < Old Frenchjoint, jointe < Latinjunctum, juncta, neuter and feminine of junctus (past participle of jungere “to join”), equivalent to jung-join + -tus past participle suffix
late 13c., "a part of a body where two bones meet and move in contact with one another," from Old French joint "joint of the body" (12c.), from Latin iunctus "united, connected, associated," past participle of iungere "join" (see jugular). Related: Joints. Slang meaning of "place, building, establishment" (especially one where persons meet for shady activities) first recorded 1877, American English, from an earlier Anglo-Irish sense (1821), perhaps on the notion of a side-room, one "joined" to a main room. The original U.S. sense was especially of "an opium-smoking den."
Meaning "marijuana cigarette" (1938) is perhaps from notion of something often smoked in common, but there are other possibilities; earlier joint in drug slang meant "hypodermic outfit" (1935). Meaning "prison" is attested from 1953 but probably is older. Out of joint in the figurative sense is from early 15c. (literally, of bone displacement, late 14c.).
adj.
early 15c., "united," from Old French jointiz (adj.) and joint, literally "joined," past participle of joindre (see join (v.)).
AnatomyA usually movable body part in which adjacent bones are joined by ligaments and other fibrous tissues. See also ball-and-socket jointhinge joint.
ZoologyA point in the exoskeleton of an invertebrate at which movable parts join, as along the leg of an arthropod.
BotanyA point on a plant stem from which a leaf or branch grows.
