assembly
Pluralassemblies
- 1A gathering of people brought together in one place for a particular purpose.
The annual assembly of delegates filled the convention hall.
A small assembly gathered outside the courthouse to hear the verdict.
UsageUsually an assembly of people: an assembly of delegates, of neighbors. People hold or call an assembly.
Similargathering, meeting, congregation, crowd, convention
Note
Here the pieces brought together are people. Freedom of assembly names the right to gather in this sense, whether for protest, debate or worship. The religious meeting belongs here too: a dissertation by George Reynolds speaks of scripture read "in the Public Assemblies of Christians," meaning congregations met for worship.
- 2An official body of representatives, usually elected, that meets to debate and make decisions, especially laws.
The state assembly passed the budget after a long session.
Voters elect representatives to the assembly every four years.
UsageCapitalized in names, as in the General Assembly. People are elected to the assembly and sit in it.
Similarlegislature, parliament, chamber, congress
Note
A gathering that has become an institution. Where the general "gathering" sense covers any group met for a purpose, this one is a standing body that sits again and again. It frequently forms one chamber of a legislature, such as a state or provincial lower house.
- 3The act or process of fitting separate pieces, parts, or elements together into a whole.
Assembly of the engine requires precise alignment of each part.
Workers completed the assembly of the bookshelf in minutes.
UsageCommon in assembly line, assembly instructions and some assembly required. As a process it usually takes no a or an.
Similarconstruction, building, fabrication
Oppositedisassembly
- 4A set of parts that fit and work together as a single mechanism or device.
The steering assembly connects the wheel to the front axle.
Engineers replaced the faulty valve assembly in the pump.
UsageUsually after the name of the part or device: a valve assembly, the steering assembly, the gearbox assembly.
Note
The thing rather than the act: a unit of parts that is removed, fitted or replaced as one. It marks the whole unit as opposed to a single component. When a wiper blows off, "not just the blade but the entire assembly" means everything mounted with it, not one piece.
- 5A gathering of students and teachers from all or part of a school, often held regularly in the morning, for announcements, talks, or worship.
The principal announced the new lunch schedule at Monday's assembly.
Every grade filed into the auditorium for a morning assembly on internet safety.
UsageOften school assembly or morning assembly; news is given at the assembly.
Less common meanings
- 6Short for assembly language, a low-level programming language that corresponds closely to a processor's machine code.
The driver was hand-tuned in assembly for maximum performance.
Reading the compiler's output in assembly helped them spot the bug.
UsageCode is written in assembly: a routine written in assembly, hand-tuned in assembly.
Note
The language uses mnemonic instructions, most of them matching single machine instructions for a particular processor family, so a program in assembly is tied to that family. Within computing, keep it apart from the .NET building block, which shares the spelling but names a packaged unit of code.
- 7A drumbeat or bugle call used as a signal for troops to gather.
The drummer beat the assembly to call the regiment together.
At the first note of the assembly, every company fell into line.
UsageUsually the assembly: drums beat it and buglers sound it.
Note
A soldier's call named for what it orders. Each military call has its own name, and the assembly is distinct from calls such as reveille or retreat.
- 8In .NET, a software building block that packages code or resources with descriptive information about its contents, identity, and version.
Practice
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Origin
Middle English assemblee was taken from Anglo-Norman asemblee; the Old French form was also asemblee, and French has assemblée. On the surface the word reads as assemble + -y.