cooptate (kooptat)

t.; pret. and pp. coöр tated, ppr. coöptating. [L. coopt at us, pp. of coopt are, coöpt: see coöpt.] To choose conjointly; coöpt. coöptation (kō-op-tā'shon), n. [F. cooptation = Sp. coopt a cion = Pg. coopt ação, mutual choice. The first election and co - optation of a friend. Howell , Letters, I. v. 19. Specifically-2. Coöperative choice; election; especially, election to membership in a committee, board, or society by its existing members. I would venture to suggest that the exclusive adoption of the method of coöptation for filling the vacancies which must occur in your body appears to me to be somewhat like a tempting of Providence. Huxley, Amer. Addre es, p. 123. The bishops elected two earls, the earls two bishops; these four elected two barons; and the six electors added by co - optation fifteen others, the whole number being twenty-one. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 251. Neverthele they [guilds] continued to choose the magistrates by co - optation among themselves. Encyc. Brit., XV. 33.