inosculate

verb /ɪˈnɒs.kjʊˌleɪt/

1. To homogenize; to make continuous.

   transitive

2. To open into.

   intransitive

   The party left the town of Martaban on the 20th March; they passed two grassy and level islands just above the junction of the Gyein river with the main one. […] This inosculating river is about half the breadth of the Sanloon.

3. To unite.

   rare, transitive

   Clouds sometimes inosculate with smoke. Howard mentions several cases in his Journals. "The smoke of London," he observes, "when passing away in a body swelled up into distinct heaps, each of which inosculated at its summit with a small Cloud. Groups of Cumulo Stratus, the Cumulus and Cirro Stratus occupied the South part of the sky attracting smoke."

4. To intercommunicate; to interjoin.

   intransitive

Where it comes from

First attested in 1672; from in- + osculate or its Latin etymon ōsculātus, perfect active participle of Latin osculor (“to kiss”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)) from ōsculum (“a kiss”). The adjective is a back-formation from inosculation, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry inosculate (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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