conjugate

Etymology

From the participle stem of Latin coniugāre (“to yoke together”), from con- (“with”) + iugāre (“join, bind, connect”).

verb

1. (grammar, transitive) To inflect (a verb) for each person, in order, for one or more tenses; to list or recite its principal parts.
   In English, the verb 'to be' is conjugated as follows: 'I am', 'you are', 'he/she/it is', 'we are', 'you are', 'they are'.
2. (mathematics) To multiply on the left by one element and on the right by its inverse.
3. (rare) To join together, to unite; to juxtapose.
   The effects of hunger were often conjugated with epidemic disease. 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 55
4. (biology, of bacteria and algae) To temporarily fuse, exchanging or transferring DNA.

noun

1. Any entity formed by joining two or more smaller entities together.
2. (algebra, of a complex number) A complex conjugate.
3. (algebra) More generally, any of a set of irrational or complex numbers that are zeros of the same polynomial with integral coefficients.
4. (algebra, field theory, of an element of an extension field) Given a field extension L / K and an element α ∈ L, any other element β ∈ L that is another root of the minimal polynomial of α over K.
5. (mathematics) An explementary angle.
6. (grammar) A word agreeing in derivation with another word, and therefore generally resembling it in meaning.
   17th c, John Bramhall, We have learned in logic, that conjugates are sometimes in name only, and not in deed.
7. (immunology) A weak and a strong antigen covalently linked together

adj

1. United in pairs; yoked together; coupled.
   Some of the most widely-applied Gresley features will doubtless long remain a subject of controversy among locomotive engineers, and in particular his patent conjugate valve-motion for 3-cylinder engines, whereby the piston-valve of the middle cylinder derives its motion from the two outside Walschaerts valve-gears. 1941 June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 290
2. (botany) In single pairs; coupled.
3. (chemistry) Containing two or more radicals supposed to act the part of a single one.
4. (grammar) Agreeing in derivation and radical signification; said of words.
5. (mathematics) Presenting themselves simultaneously and having reciprocal properties; said of quantities, points, lines, axes, curves, etc.