aliens

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of alien.

   The agency processed thousands of resident aliens last year.

   Generations of science fiction have imagined aliens visiting Earth.

   Note

   One plural covers every kind of outsider the noun names: citizens of another state, life forms from beyond Earth, and people shut out of privileges or estranged. Only context separates resident aliens from aliens in a spaceship. Take care when the word refers to people, because one sense, a suspicious foreigner, can be derogatory. The same spelling is also the verb's present form.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of alien.

   The statute takes effect whenever a landowner aliens property to a third party.

   If the trustee aliens the estate improperly, the beneficiaries may sue.

   Note

   The verb behind this form does two jobs, and both are transitive. It can mean to estrange someone, as alienate does, or to transfer ownership of something to another. Either way it needs an object: a landowner aliens property, and a quarrel aliens a friend. Because the spelling is shared with the plural noun, read the syntax. When aliens is followed by an object, it is the verb.

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