ligature

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of tying or binding.
• noun A cord, wire, or bandage used for tying or binding.
• noun A thread, wire, or cord used in surgery to close vessels or tie off ducts.
• noun Something that unites; a bond.
• noun A character, letter, or unit of type, such as æ, combining two or more letters.
• noun A group of notes intended to be played or sung as one phrase.
• noun A curved line indicating such a phrase; a slur.
• noun A passage of notes sung by repeating the same syllable.
• noun A metal band that attaches the reed to the mouthpiece of the clarinet and related instruments.
• transitive verb To ligate.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To compress or tie by means of a ligature, in any sense; ligate.
• noun Anything that serves for tying, binding, or uniting, as a cord or bandage; hence, any binding, restraining, or uniting agency or principle.
• noun Specifically In surgery: A cord for tying a blood-vessel, particularly an artery, to prevent hemorrhage.
• noun A cord or wire to remove tumors, etc., by strangulation.
• noun The act of binding; ligation.
• noun The state of being bound or consolidated.
• noun Impotence supposed to be induced by magic.
• noun In music: In medieval musical notation, one of various compound note-forms designed to indicate groups of two or more tones which were to be sung to a single syllable—that is, similar to a group of slurred notes in the modern notation. Ligatures are often difficult to decipher, on account of the doubtfulness not only of the pitch of the tones intended, but of their relative duration.
• noun In modern musical notation, a tie or band; hence, a group of notes slurred together, intended to be sung at a single breath or to be played as a continuous phrase.
• noun In contrapuntal music, a syncopation.
• noun In printing and writing, a type or character consisting of or representing two or more letters or characters united.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb (Surg.) To ligate; to tie.
• noun The act of binding.
• noun Anything that binds; a band or bandage.
• noun A thread or string for tying the blood vessels, particularly the arteries, to prevent hemorrhage.
• noun A thread or wire used to remove tumors, etc.
• noun The state of being bound or stiffened; stiffness.
• noun obsolete Impotence caused by magic or charms.
• noun (Mus.) A curve or line connecting notes; a slur.
• noun (Print.) A double character, or a type consisting of two or more letters or characters united, as æ, fi, ffl.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun uncountable The act of tying or binding something.
• noun countable A cord or similar thing used to tie something; especially the thread used in surgery to close a vessel or duct.
• noun countable, typography A character that visually combines multiple letters, such as æ, œ, ß or ij; also logotype. Sometimes called a typographic ligature.
• noun countable, music A group of notes played as a phrase, or the curved line that indicates such a phrase.
• noun countable A piece used to hold a reed to the mouthpiece on woodwind instruments.
• verb surgery To ligate; to tie.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the act of tying or binding things together
• noun something used to tie or bind
• noun thread used by surgeons to bind a vessel (as to constrict the flow of blood)
• noun character consisting of two or more letters combined into one
• noun a metal band used to attach a reed to the mouthpiece of a clarinet or saxophone
• noun (music) a group of notes connected by a slur