ppl. a. [f. CONNECT v. + -ING2.] That connects, joining.

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1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., IV. xvii. The natural order of the connecting ideas.

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1824.  L. Murray, Eng. Gram. (ed. 5), I. 192. Conjunctions, and other connecting words.

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1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 15. The connecting particles are omitted.

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  b.  Connecting link: fig. that which connects or links one thing or member of a series with another; techn. a link with a movable section, used to connect two links of a broken chain.

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1797.  Bewick, Brit. Birds (1847), I. 98. It evidently forms a connecting link between them.

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1801.  Coxe, Tour Monmouthsh., I. 1. Monmouthshire … may be justly considered the connecting link between England and Wales.

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1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 164. The record of animal life … is fragmentary—the connecting links are wanting.

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