connect
Formsconnects, connecting, connected
Formsconnects, connecting, connected
Pluralconnects
- 1To join or fasten two things together, or to be joined to something or able to fit together with it.
He connected the trailer to the back of the truck.
Connect the two lengths of pipe with a rubber seal before you tighten the clamp.
UsageUsually connect one thing to another: connect the printer to the laptop.
Similarjoin
- 2To serve as a link between two objects, attaching them to each other.
Several bridges connect the mainland to the outer islands.
The new rail line connects the airport directly with downtown.
UsageBoth connect A to B and connect A and B are common; with also works, as in connects the airport with downtown.
Similarlink, join, bridge, tie, attach
Note
Here the subject is the link itself (a railroad, a road, a watch guard), not the person doing the joining, who belongs to the hands-on sense. The American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity has a watch guard that connected the pockets of a waistcoat, and W. B. Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp (1918) a thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks.
- 3To associate one thing with another, or to establish a relationship between them.
Historians connect the famine to decades of poor harvests.
It's hard to connect his calm words with such an angry email.
UsageUsually connect one thing with or to another; often passive, as in be connected with the crime.
Similarlink, associate, relate, tie
Oppositedissociate, separate, divorce
- 4To reach out and communicate with someone, for instance by meeting up, phoning, or linking up through an online network.
I'll connect with the sales team tomorrow and get back to you with their numbers.
Hundreds of graduates have connected through the alumni association's online directory.
UsageConnect with someone; in office talk it usually means a call or a meeting, not a close bond: let's connect next week.
- 5To join an electrical or telephone line, device, or installation to a circuit or network.
The engineer connected the new substation to the regional power grid.
The phone company promised to connect the new office line to its network by Friday.
Oppositedisconnect, unplug, isolate
- 6To form a bond of mutual understanding with someone, so that the two of you get along well.
Good teachers find ways to connect with even the quietest students in the room.
We met at a friend's wedding and connected right away over our shared sense of humor.
UsageConnect with someone, often over something you share: they connected over music.
- 7To reach an intended target; to land a blow or shot.
The boxer's right hook connected and sent his opponent reeling.
He swung late, but the bat still managed to connect with the ball and send it past second base.
UsageThe blow or the person can be the subject; the target takes with: the bat connected with the ball.
Oppositemiss
Less common meanings
- 8To switch from one means of transport to another as part of the same trip.
Passengers connect in Frankfurt for flights across Europe.
If the first flight is late, you won't connect with the second.
UsageTravelers connect in a city and with the next flight, train or ferry.
- 9A useful friend or associate, especially one who can help you get something.
My cousin is my connect for cheap concert tickets.
You need the right connects to get a table at that club.
UsageOften plural: connects for tickets, a lot of connects. In careful writing say contact, since it can also mean a drug dealer.
Similarcontact, hookup, source
Note
The same clipping as the drug-dealer sense, used of anyone who can open a door: an agent, a club insider, someone in Silicon Valley. It is slang and often plural, as in a lot of connects. In careful writing contact is the safer word, since a connect can also be a dealer.
- 10A person who sells illegal drugs; a supplier or dealer.
When her usual connect got arrested, she had to find someone new to sell her cocaine.
The detectives spent months trying to identify the gang's connect.
UsageUsually with a possessive: my connect, the gang's connect.
Similardealer, supplier, plug, pusher, source
Note
Drug-trade slang clipped from connection. The dealer is named by the link to a supply, not by the act of selling. It is countable and usually comes with a possessive: my connect, the gang's connect, or several connects in one city. The same clipping also names a useful friend or contact.
- 11A link, tie, or relationship between people or things.
You can feel the connect between the quarterback and his favorite receiver every time they take the field.
I'm just not seeing the connect between what he promised last week and what he's doing now.
UsageOften the connect between two people or things. Outside casual talk, say connection.
Similarconnection, link, bond
Oppositedisconnect
Note
Slang clips connection down to the verb's own spelling, so only the grammar shows it is a noun: a connect, plural connects. It usually names a link between two people or things, as in the connect between two ideas. Outside casual talk, connection is the usual word. The drug-dealer sense is a narrower use of the same clipping.
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Practice
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Origin
Latin connectere ("fasten together") joins con- ("together") and nectere ("bind"); nectere may be related to the English words knot and knit.