ligature
[lig-uh-cher, -choo r]
- the act of binding or tying up: The ligature of the artery was done with skill.
- anything that serves for binding or tying up, as a band, bandage, or cord.
- a tie or bond: the ligature of mutual need that bound them together.
- Printing, Orthography. a stroke or bar connecting two letters.
- Printing. a character or type combining two or more letters, as fl and ƕ.
- Music.
- Surgery. a thread or wire for constriction of blood vessels or for removing tumors by strangulation.
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- to bind with a ligature; tie up; ligate.
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Origin of ligature
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ligature
Contemporary Examples
The ligature around his neck corresponded to a fragment of ligature still attached to the shower curtain.
He had scars on his stomach and buttocks, and ligature indentations on his wrists.
Historical Examples
The old operation, or ligature of the gluteal artery in the hip.
A Manual of the Operations of SurgeryJoseph Bell
To illustrate this opinion, his work on the ligature may be taken.
When going to bleed at the ankle the ligature is to be applied at the knee.
Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman TimesJohn Stewart Milne
To prevent any injury, the ligature should be brought away first, and then the catheter.
A System of MidwiferyEdward Rigby
Here a wounded officer was brought in for whom a ligature was wanted.
SaragossaBenito Prez Galds
ligature
- the act of binding or tying up
- something used to bind
- a link, bond, or tie
- surgery a thread or wire for tying around a vessel, duct, etc, as for constricting the flow of blood to a part
- printing a character of two or more joined letters, such as, fl, ffi, ffl
- music
- a slur or the group of notes connected by it
- (in plainsong notation) a symbol indicating two or more notes grouped together
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- (tr) to bind with a ligature; ligate
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Word Origin
C14: from Late Latin ligātūra, ultimately from Latin ligāre to bind
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ligature
n.
c.1400, "something used in tying or binding," from Middle French ligature (14c.), from Late Latin ligatura "a band," from Latin ligatus, past participle of ligare "to bind" (see ligament). In musical notation from 1590s; of letters joined in printing or writing from 1690s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ligature
(lĭg′ə-chur′, -chər)- The act of tying or binding.
- A cord, wire, or bandage used in surgery to close vessels or tie off ducts.
- A thread, wire, or cord used in surgery to close vessels or tie off ducts.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.