Adoption

·noun The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions.

II. Adoption ·noun The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the ·same·as one's own child.

III. Adoption ·noun Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another.