assign

From Middle English assignen, from Old French assigner, asigner, from Latin assignō, from ad- + signō (“mark, sign”).

• IPA^(key): /əˈsaɪn/

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: as‧sign
• Rhymes: -aɪn

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.
   • 1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More: Or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, volume I, London: John Murray, page 210:

     “I cannot do it, Sir !” was his reply. “I fire into their ranks, and that does as well ; but to single out one among them, and mark him for death, would lie upon my mind afterwards.” The man who could feel thus was worthy of a better station than that in which his lot had been assigned.

   • 1857, William Hickling Prescott, “War with France”, in History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, new edition, volume I, London: G. Routledge & Co., page 116:

     He assigned his men to their several posts, talked boldly of maintaining himself against all the troops of Spain, and by his cheerful tone endeavoured to inspire a confidence in others which he was far from feeling himself.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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.
   1. (LGBTQ) To categorize (someone) as belonging to the male or female sex.
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.

• (set apart something for some purpose): allocate, earmark; see also Thesaurus:set apart
• (transfer property): consign, convey; see also Thesaurus:transfer

assign (plural assigns)

1. An assignee.
   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, , →OCLC, page 2:

     Scrooge knew he was dead ? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise ? Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and his sole mourner.

2. (obsolete) A thing relating or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke:  (Second Quarto), London: I R for N L , published 1604, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     The King ſir hath wagerd with him ſix Barbary horſes, againgſt the which hee has impaund as I take it ſix French Rapiers and Poynards, with their aſſignes, as girdle, hanger and ſo.

3. (obsolete) An assignment or appointment.
4. (obsolete) A design or purpose.
   • 1609, John Ford, “Fame's Memorial: An Elegy upon the Earl of Devonshire”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 9:

     He aim’d at high designs, and so attain’d / The high assigns to which his spirit aim’d.