/ əˈtætʃmənt; NAmE / noun
1.
[ C , U ] a strong feeling of affection for sb/sth :
a child's strong attachment to its parents
2.
[ C , U ] belief in and support for an idea or a set of values :
the popular attachment to democratic government
3.
[ C ] a tool that you can fix onto a machine, to make it do another job :
an electric drill with a range of different attachments
4.
[ U , C ] the act of joining one thing to another; a thing that joins two things together :
All cars built since 1981 have points for the attachment of safety restraints.
They discussed the attachment of new conditions to the peace plans.
They had to check the strength of the seat attachments to the floor of the plane.
5.
[ U , C ] ( BrE ) a short time spent working with an organization such as a hospital, school or part of the armed forces :
She's on attachment to the local hospital.
a 4-month training attachment
6.
[ C ] ( computing ) a document that you send to sb using email
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (in the sense arrest for contempt of court ): from Old French attachement , from atachier fasten, fix or estachier , based on an element of Germanic origin related to stake post .