Al'li-gā'tion, n.
n. [Lat. alligatio.]
Sense 1. The act of tying together, or the state of being tied. [Rare.]
Sense 2. (Arith.) A rule relating to the solution of questions concerning the compounding or mixing together of different ingredients, or ingredients of different qualities or values. Davies & Peck.
☞ The rule is named from the method of connecting together the terms by certain ligature-like signs. Alligation is of two kinds, medial and alternate; medial, teaching the method of finding the price or quality of a mixture of several simple ingredients whose prices and qualities are known; alternate, teaching the amount of each of several simple ingredients whose prices or qualities are known, for a mixture of given price or quality.