Obs. [ad. L. cōpulāt-us linked, coupled, pa. pple. of cōpulāre: see next.]
1. Connected, coupled; conjoined, united. (In first quot. const. as pa. pple.)
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 108. These ij. wordes, Iebus and Salem, copulate to gedre, this worde, Ierusalem, resultethe.
1607–12. Bacon, Ess., Custom (Arb.), 372. If the force of Custome Simple and Separate be greate; the force of Custome Copulate and Conioyn’d … is farre greater.
1645. Milton, Tetrach. (1851), 243. Is our commission … to take the parts of a copulat axiom, both absolutely affirmative, and to say the first is absolutely true, the other not?
2. Serving to connect, copulative. b. as sb. A copulative word.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, I. 1. The procuring cause is pointed out by this copulate particle AND.
1672. Penn, Spirit Truth Vind., 133. Gerunds, Adjectives, Conjunctives, Copulates, Subjunctives, Prepositions.
