suture

Etymology

From Middle English suture, from Latin sūtūra (“suture”), from suere (“sew, join or tack together”) + -tūra (forms action nouns).

noun

1. A seam formed by sewing two edges together, especially to join pieces of skin in surgically treating a wound.
2. Thread used to sew or stitch two edges (especially of skin) together.
3. (geology) An area where separate terrane join together along a major fault.
4. (anatomy) A type of fibrous joint bound together by Sharpey's fibres which only occurs in the skull.
5. (anatomy) A seam or line, such as that between the segments of a crustacean, between the whorls of a univalve shell, or where the elytra of a beetle meet.
6. (botany) The seam at the union of two margins in a plant.
7. (philosophy, figurative) The procedure by which a subject comes to be identified with its own representation, as in the identification of the speaker with the sign “I” within a certain discourse; (by extension) any process by which the content of something is determined or supplied from outside itself.
   The suture of science and philosophy constitutes an identification of philosophical thought and scientific objectivity that is unfortunately typical of contemporary so-called ‘analytic’ philosophy. […] Yet, the over-identification of philosophical tasks with science itself signifies a veritable retreat from philosophy itself. 2011, Tzuchien Tho, “Introduction: One Divides into Two? Dividing the Conditions”, in Alain Badiou, The Rational Kernel of the Hegelian Dialectic, page xix

verb

1. (transitive) To sew up or join by means of a suture.