Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - suture

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French, from Latin sutura seam, ~, from sutus, past participle of suere to sew — more at sew  Date: 15th century  1.  a. a strand or fiber used to sew parts of the living body; also a stitch made with a ~  b. the act or process of sewing with ~s  2.  a. a uniting of parts  b. the seam or seamlike line along which two things or parts are sewed or united  3.  a. the line of union in an immovable articulation (as between the bones of the skull); also such an articulation  b. a furrow at the junction of adjacent bodily parts; especially a line of dehiscence (as on a fruit)  • sutural adjective  • suturally adverb  II. transitive verb  (~d; suturing)  Date: 1777 to unite, close, or secure with ~s ~ a wound