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Attach vs Latch - What's the difference?

attach | latch |

In obsolete terms the difference between attach and latch

is that attach is to take, seize, or lay hold of while latch is to smear; to anoint.

As verbs the difference between attach and latch

is that attach is to arrest, seize while latch is to close or lock as if with a latch.

As a noun latch is

a fastening for a door that has a bar that fits into a notch or slot, and is lifted by a lever or string from either side.

attach

English

Verb

  • (obsolete, legal) To arrest, seize.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , I.xii:
    • Eftsoones the Gard, which on his state did wait, / Attacht that faitor false, and bound him strait
  • * 1610 , , by (William Shakespeare), act 3 scene 2
    • Old lord, I cannot blame thee, / Who am myself attach'd with weariness / To th' dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.
  • * Miss Yonge
    • The earl marshal attached Gloucester for high treason.
  • To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).
    • An officer is attached to a certain regiment, company, or ship.
  • * Paley
    • The shoulder blade is attached only to the muscles.
  • * Macaulay
    • a huge stone to which the cable was attached
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}
  • To adhere; to be attached.
  • * Brougham
    • The great interest which attaches to the mere knowledge of these facts cannot be doubted.
  • To come into legal operation in connection with anything; to vest.
    • Dower will attach .
    (Cooley)
  • To win the heart of; to connect by ties of love or self-interest; to attract; to fasten or bind by moral influence; with to .
    • attached''' to a friend; '''attaching others to us by wealth or flattery
  • * Jane Austen
    • incapable of attaching a sensible man
  • * Cowper
    • God by various ties attaches man to man.
  • To connect, in a figurative sense; to ascribe or attribute; to affix; with to .
    • to attach great importance to a particular circumstance
  • * Bayard Taylor
    • To this treasure a curse is attached .
  • (obsolete) To take, seize, or lay hold of.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * (to fasten, to join to ) connect, annex, affix, unite

    Antonyms

    * (to fasten, to join to ) detach, unfasten, disengage, separate

    Derived terms

    () * attachable * attachment * attacher * get attached

    Related terms

    () * attachment

    latch

    English

    (wikipedia latch)

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) .

    Noun

    (es)
  • A fastening for a door that has a bar that fits into a notch or slot, and is lifted by a lever or string from either side.
  • * 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 4
    • The cleverly constructed latch which Clayton had made for the door had sprung as Kerchak passed out; nor could the apes find means of ingress through the heavily barred windows.
  • A flip-flop electronic circuit
  • (obsolete) A latching.
  • (obsolete) A crossbow.
  • (obsolete) That which fastens or holds; a lace; a snare.
    • Derived terms
    * on the latch

    Verb

    (es)
  • To close or lock as if with a latch
  • To catch; lay hold of
  • :* Where hearing should not latch them. — Shakespeare, MacBeth , Act IV
    • Derived terms
    * latch on * latch on to * latch onto

    Etymology 2

    Compare (etyl) .

    Verb

    (es)
  • (obsolete) To smear; to anoint.
    • (Shakespeare)