the contact or connection maintained by communications between units of the armed forces or of any other organization in order to ensure concerted action, cooperation, etc.
2.
a person who initiates and maintains such a contact or connection.
3.
an illicit sexual relationship.
4.
Cookery. the process of thickening sauces, soups, etc., as by the addition of eggs, cream, butter, or flour.
5.
Phonetics. a speech-sound redistribution, occurring esp. in French, in which an otherwise silent final consonant is articulated as the initial sound of a following syllable that begins with a vowel or with a silent h, as the z- and n-sounds in Je suis un homme/ʒə swi zœ ˈnɔm/Show Spelled Pronunciation[zhuh swee zœnawm]Show IPA.
Origin: 1640–50; < F, OF < L ligātiōn- (s. of ligātiō) a binding. See ligation