Alliance

Zell's Condensed Dictionary · 1879 · p. 3

(al-lī'ans.) [Fr. allier, to unite with.] (Civil Law.) The relation contracted between two persons or two families by marriage.-(Pol.) A treaty entered into by sovereign princes and states, for their mutual safety and defence. (Bot.) The first division of a cla , including the orders which have certain common characters which do not belong to the whole cla . [s. 21]