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Webster 1913 Edition

Assign

As-sign′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Assigned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Assigning
.]
[OE.
assignen
,
asignen
, F.
assigner
, fr. L.
assignare
;
ad
+
signare
to mark, mark out, designate,
signum
mark, sign. See
Sign
.]
1.
To appoint; to allot; to apportion; to make over.
In the order I
assign
to them.
Loudon.
The man who could feel thus was worthy of a better station than that in which his lot had been
assigned
.
Southey.
He
assigned
to his men their several posts.
Prescott.
2.
To fix, specify, select, or designate; to point out authoritatively or exactly;
as, to
assign
a limit; to
assign
counsel for a prisoner; to
assign
a day for trial.
All as the dwarf the way to her
assigned
.
Spenser.
It is not easy to
assign
a period more eventful.
De Quincey.
3.
(Law)
To transfer, or make over to another, esp. to transfer to, and vest in, certain persons, called assignees, for the benefit of creditors.
To assign dower
,
to set out by metes and bounds the widow’s share or portion in an estate.
Kent.

As-sign′

,
Noun.
[From
Assign
,
Verb.
]
A thing pertaining or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.
[Obs.]
Six French rapiers and poniards, with their
assigns
, as girdles, hangers, and so.
Shakespeare

As-sign′

,
Noun.
[See
Assignee
.]
(Law)
A person to whom property or an interest is transferred;
as, a deed to a man and his heirs and
assigns
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Assign

ASSI'GN

,
Verb.
T.
[L. assigno, of ad and signo, to allot to mark out, signum, a mark. The primary sense of sign is to send, or to set.]
1.
To allot; to appoint or grant by distribution or apportionment.
The priests had a portion assigned them. Gen. 47.
2.
To designate or appoint for a particular purpose.
They assigned Bezer, a city of refuge. Josh. 20.
3.
To fix, specify or designate; as an assigned quantity.
4.
To make or set over; to transfer, sell or convey, by writing, as by indorsing a note, or by any writing on a separate paper.
5.
To allege or show in particular; as, to assign a reason for one's conduct.
6.
In law, to show or set forth with particularity; as, to assign error in a writ; to assign false judgment.

ASSI'GN

,
Noun.
A person to whom property or an interest is or may be transferred; as, a deed to a man and his heirs and assigns.

Definition 2024

assign

assign

English

Verb

assign ‎(third-person singular simple present assigns, present participle assigning, simple past and past participle assigned)

  1. (transitive) To designate or set apart something for some purpose.
    to assign a day for trial‎
  2. (transitive) To appoint or select someone for some office.
    to assign counsel for a prisoner‎
  3. (transitive) To allot or give something as a task.
    • Robert Southey (1774-1843)
      The man who could feel thus was worthy of a better station than that in which his lot had been assigned.
    • William H. Prescott (1796-1859)
      He assigned to his men their several posts.
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
      Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
  4. (transitive) To attribute or sort something into categories.
  5. (transitive, law) To transfer property, a legal right, etc., from one person to another.
  6. (transitive, programming) To give (a value) to a variable.
    We assign 100 to x.‎

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

assign ‎(plural assigns)

  1. An assignee.
  2. (obsolete) A thing relating or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.
    • Shakespeare
      Six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdles, hangers, and so.

Etymology

Old French assigner

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -aɪn

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