Alliance

[Fr. from Lat. ad ligare, to bind.] A voluntary compact, binding persons or communities. The alliance of States is either offensive or defensive, or both; with individuals it means friendship or marriage relationship. - Compact; treaty; union; coöper at i on; confederation; friendship. (Bot.) The first division of a cla , including the orders having certain common characters which separate them from the rest of the cla . Alliance, in Ohio , a manuf. city and R. R. centre in Lexington township, Stark co. Pop . in 1890, 7,607. Alli'eæ, n . pl . ( Bot .) A tribe of plants, ord. Liliacese . Allied', p . a. United by kindred or alliance; confeder ated. It is Allier, a dep. in France, bounded on the N. by those of Cher, Nievre, and Saône et Loire, and on the S. by those of Creuse, Puy de Dôme, and Loire. It comprehends a great part of the ancient province of Bourbonnais. Lat. between 45° 58′ and 46° 47′ N.; Lon. between 20 16 and 3° 57′ E. Area , 2,821 sq. m. traversed by the Allier, the Cher, and other le er rivers. The soil is fertile, but the agriculture is in a backward state. The ponds and woods are extensive. Manf . Iron machinery and tools of every description, cutlery, paper, porcelain, gla , cloth, . Mineral springs attract visitors to the towns of Vichy, BourbonL'Archambault, and Neris. The dep. is divided into four arrondi t nents, named Moulins, Gannat, La Pali e, and Montluçon. Pop . 424,582. AL'LIER, a river that gives its name to the above department. It rises in the mountains of the Lozère, and traversing the centre of France, falls into the Loire, a few miles below Nevers, after a course of 220 miles. Al'ligate, v. a. [Lat. all i gare, to bind to.] To tie one thing to another; to unite.