liaison

1. the contact or connection maintained by communications between units of the armed forces or of any other organization in order to ensure concerted action, cooperation, etc.
2. a person who initiates and maintains such a contact or connection.
3. an illicit sexual relationship.
4. Cookery. the process of thickening sauces, soups, etc., as by the addition of eggs, cream, butter, or flour.
5. Phonetics. a speech-sound redistribution, occurring especially in French, in which an otherwise silent final consonant is articulated as the initial sound of a following syllable that begins with a vowel or with a silent h, as the z- and n-sounds in Je suis un homme [zhuh swee zœ nawm] /ʒə swi zœ ˈnɔm/.

noun

1. communication and contact between groups or units
2. (modifier) of or relating to liaison between groups or unitsa liaison officer
3. a secretive or adulterous sexual relationship
4. one who acts as an agent between parties; intermediary
5. the relationship between military units necessary to ensure unity of purpose
6. (in the phonology of several languages, esp French) the pronunciation of a normally silent consonant at the end of a word immediately before another word commencing with a vowel, in such a way that the consonant is taken over as the initial sound of the following word. Liaison is seen between French ils (il) and ont (ɔ̃), to give ils ont (il zɔ̃)
7. any thickening for soups, sauces, etc, such as egg yolks or cream

n.1640s, from French liaison “a union, a binding together” (13c.), from Late Latin ligationem (nominative ligatio) “a binding,” from past participle stem of Latin ligare “to bind” (see ligament). Originally a cookery term for a thickening agent for sauces. Sense of “intimate relations” is from 1806. Military sense of “cooperation between branches, allies, etc.” is from 1816. The noun meaning “one who is concerned with liaison of units, etc.” is short for liaison officer.
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