v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Adopted; p. pr. & vb. n. Adopting. ] [ L. adoptare; ad + optare to choose, desire: cf. F. adopter. See Option. ] 1. To take by choice into relationship, as, child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.; esp. to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one's own child. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To take or receive as one's own what is not so naturally; to select and take or approve; as, to adopt the view or policy of another; these resolutions were adopted. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being adopted. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Taken by adoption; taken up as one's own; as, an adopted son, citizen, country, word. -- A*dopt"ed*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. 1. One who adopts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chem.) A receiver, with two necks, opposite to each other, one of which admits the neck of a retort, and the other is joined to another receiver. It is used in distillations, to give more space to elastic vapors, to increase the length of the neck of a retort, or to unite two vessels whose openings have different diameters. [ Written also adapter. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. adoptio, allied to adoptare to adopt: cf. F. adoption. ] 1. The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect which maintained that Christ was the Son of God not by nature but by adoption. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Adopted. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. adoptivus: cf. F. adoptif. ] Pertaining to adoption; made or acquired by adoption; fitted to adopt; as, an adoptive father, an child; an adoptive language. -- A*dopt"ive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]