Weld

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /wɛld/

Definitions

1. To unite two pieces of metal by subjecting them to extreme heat until they reach melting point and fuse into a solid connection
2. To bond metal components through the application of intense heat until they liquefy and merge into a unified structure, with resulting seams being strong attachments
3. To fuse two metal items by heating their joining surfaces until they melt and combine

Etymology: The verb "weld" has a surprising second life. Its oldest ancestor, Old English "weald", meant a state of being joined or forged by heat only loosely, and the word belonged to a family of Germanic terms for "boil" or "rise up." Scandinavian cognates still carry that sense: Danish "vælde" and Swedish "välla" mean "boil" or "well up," and in Swedish the same root gives the notion of forging metal. English took a related path, so that the idea of things surging together under heat became the idea of joining metal by melting it. The English word also shows an unusual tangle of influences. In Middle English it appeared as "welde" and "wolde," which may have been reshaped by Anglo-Norman "wold" or "wolde," the same root that gives the dye plant "woad." The two words are doublets, separate descendants of one Germanic root that reached English by different routes. A related Dutch form, "wouw," keeps the same root with an -l- sound lost in English. Much of the modern sense is a later development. The verb's older English meanings were more general, and the specific technical use for fusing metal by heat was narrowed down over time as metalworking grew more precise.

Synonyms: join, fuse, bond, connect, solder

Antonyms: separate, divide, disconnect