a gentle affectionate stroking (or something resembling it); "he showered her with caresses"; "soft music was a fond caress"; "the caresses of the breeze played over his face"
touch or stroke lightly in a loving or endearing manner; "He caressed her face"; "They caressed in the back seat of the taxi"
an object of dread or apprehension; "Germany was always a bugbear for France"; "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"--Ralph Waldo Emerson
the act of making or becoming a single unit; "the union of opposing factions"; "he looked forward to the unification of his family for the holidays"
a device on a national flag emblematic of the union of two or more sovereignties (typically in the upper inner corner)
the occurrence of a uniting of separate parts; "lightning produced an unusual union of the metals"
a set containing all and only the members of two or more given sets; "let C be the union of the sets A and B"
an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer; "you have to join the union in order to get a job"
a political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations; "the Soviet Union"
the United States (especially the northern states during the American Civil War); "he has visited every state in the Union"; "Lee hoped to detach Maryland from the Union"; "the North's superior resources turned the scale"
healing process involving the growing together of the edges of a wound or the growing together of broken bones
the state of being joined or united or linked; "there is strength in union"
being of or having to do with the northern United States and those loyal to the Union during the American Civil War; "Union soldiers"; "Federal forces"; "a Federal infantryman"
of trade unions; "the union movement"; "union negotiations"; "a union-shop clause in the contract"
(religion) sanctification of something by setting it apart (usually with religious rites) as dedicated to God; "the Cardinal attended the consecration of the church"
a solemn commitment of your life or your time to some cherished purpose (to a service or a goal); "his consecration to study"
southeastern European plant cultivated for its fragrant purplish flowers and round flat papery silver-white seedpods that are used for indoor decoration
someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church but not in the Anglican Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches