assign

verb

1. (transitive)To designate or set apart (something) for some purpose.

   “to assign a day for trial”

2. (transitive)To appoint or select (someone) for some office.

   “to assign counsel for a prisoner”

3. (transitive)To allot or give (something) as a task.

   ““I cannot do it, Sir !” was his reply. “I fire into their ranks, and that does as well ; but to single out one among them, and mark him for death, would lie upon my mind afterwards.” The man who could feel thus was worthy of a better station than that in which his lot had been assigned.”

   “He assigned his men to their several posts, talked boldly of maintaining himself against all the troops of Spain, and by his cheerful tone endeavoured to inspire a confidence in others which he was far from feeling himself.”

   “Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.”

4. (transitive)To attribute or sort (something) into categories.
5. (transitive)To attribute or sort (something) into categories.
6. (transitive)To transfer (property, a legal right, etc.) from one person to another.
7. (transitive)To give (a value) to a variable.

   “We assign 100 to x.”

noun

1. An assignee.

   “Scrooge knew he was dead ? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise ? Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and his sole mourner.”

2. (obsolete)A thing relating or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.

   “The King ſir hath wagerd with him ſix Barbary horſes, againgſt the which hee has impaund as I take it ſix French Rapiers and Poynards, with their aſſignes, as girdle, hanger and ſo.”

3. (obsolete)An assignment or appointment.
4. (obsolete)A design or purpose.

   “He aim’d at high designs, and so attain’d / The high assigns to which his spirit aim’d.”