reformn.2adj.
/rᵻˈfɔːm/, U.S. /rəˈfɔrm/, /riˈfɔrm/ A. n.2† 3. Military. The discharge, dismissal, or removal of soldiers as part of the restructuring of a company, regiment, etc. Obsolete. rare.
1.
a. The action or process of making changes in an institution, organization, or aspect of social or political life, so as to remove errors, abuses, or other hindrances to proper performance. Formerly occasionally: spec. †the restoration or re-establishment of a neglected practice (obsolete).housing, land, penal, prison, sanitary reform, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > [noun] > reform
amendinga1325
reformation1449
renovation1563
repurgation1564
revocation1579
reform1606
1606 R. Parsons Answere 5th Pt. Rep. Cooke xiii. 323 The whole subiect of this Statute tendeth onlie to the reforme of certaine abuses in some quarreling and troublesome people.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. ii. 113 No Sow-gelder..but cry'd Reform.
1698 G. Ridpath Stage Condemn'd iii. 36 The Theatre being then overturned, there was so great a Reform of Manners, that..one might have walk'd through the City and Suburbs without hearing an Oath.
1730 N. Bailey et al. Dictionarium Britannicum Reform,..a Re-establishment or Revival of a former neglected Discipline; also a Correction of reigning Abuses.
1776 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. 507 Not even by any of the most determined anti-reformists of the present day..would the reform, if such it may be called, be termed either intemperate or immoderate.
1786 H. More Florio 18 He said, when any change was brewing, Reform was a fine name for ruin.
1807 E. S. Barrett (title) On the reform of the last administration.
1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus i. 13 Bœotia, choose reform or civil war!
1846 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 II. iii. 116 His unwilling consent..rendered him still more than ever hostile to all projects of reform.
1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 80 Reform was needed, and not total abolition.
1920 D. H. Lawrence Women in Love xvii. 254 Gerald rushed into the reform of the firm, beginning with the office.
1954 G. D. H. Cole Hist. Socialist Thought II. xv. 248 Paul Brousse's Possibilism, which stressed the importance of reform within capitalism, was definitely unorthodox doctrine.
2004 H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) xi. 231 The reform of the welfare state had been flagged up but nowhere did any manifesto indicate that the benefit system would be used as a source of punishment.
b. A particular instance of this action or process; an act bringing about change of this kind; an improvement made or proposed. Frequently in plural denoting a series or set of related changes.In quot. 1655: spec. the Reformation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > [noun] > reform > instance of
reform1782
1655 J. Sergeant Schism Dis-arm'd 326 The Reform (as they call it) has cut off England from all this communication and correspondence, and made it no part of any Church, greater than it self.
a1684 R. Leighton Pract. Comm. 1st Epist. Peter (1694) II. iv. 386 As it was upon the first publishing of the Gospel, so usually upon the restoring of it, or upon remarkable reforms of the Church, and revivings of Religion, follow sharp and searching trials.
a1763 J. Byrom Misc. Poems (1773) I. 53 Two zealous Proselytes to his Reform, Which then had rais'd an universal Storm.
1782 W. Cowper Conversation in Poems 252 Great changes..have occurr'd, And blest reforms that I have never heard.
1795 E. Burke Lett. Peace Regic. France iv, in Wks. (1818) IX. 58 This new constitution of theirs, which had been announced as a great reform.
1817 W. Scott Rob Roy II. vi. 128 If the same [sc. the preservation of Glasgow Cathedral] had been done in ilka kirk in Scotland, the Reform wad just hae been as pure as it is e'en now, and we wad had mair Christian-like kirks.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xii. 209 To reduce those endowments..would have been a reform worthy of a good prince and of a good parliament.
1883 Law Times 20 Oct. 408/1 The public and the Profession were alike urgent in calling for sweeping reforms.
1915 Times 12 June 5/3 The Venizelist Press, in discussing the Government electoral programme, observes that the promised reforms are almost the same as those brought forward by M. Venizelos.
1952 R. Rienow Introd. to Govt. iv. xix. 362 A suggested reform would limit the offices upon which people vote to those which..have a broad policy-making function.
1992 Time 6 Jan. 56/2 He [sc. Gorbachev]..was convinced that the reforms he began in 1985 were ‘historically correct’.
c. With capital initial. Short for reform club n. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British political associations > [noun] > Reform Club
reform club1836
reform1853
1853 London Clubs 51 The Reform Club. Next [to Boodle's] in order amongst political clubs stands the Reform, although we are not sure that it is not surpassed in seniority by its great rival..the Carlton. Both had their origin in the exciting era of 1830, and the Reform Bill.
1860 A. J. Munby Diary 18 Mar. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 56 I feel no interest in..Reform and Carlton conflicts.
1886 B. Potter Jrnl. 14 Jan. (1966) 163 It was rumoured yesterday, 13th, that Morley was going to leave the Reform. Harrison has left the Athenaeum.
1940 H. Nicolson Let. 14 July (1967) 102 I dined..at the Reform and we listened afterwards to Winston.
1993 D. C. Reece Rich Broth viii. 64 The Reform was a focus of literary and academic London.
2. Chiefly Church History. The action or process in a religious order of returning to an original rule or adopting stricter observances; (by extension) a religious order created from another by such a process. Frequently with modifying adjective specifying the order.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > monasticism > religious order > [noun] > reformed
reformation1642
reform1687
1687 tr. G. Brice New Descr. Paris i. 29 The blessed John de la Barriere, Author of the Reform of St. Bernards Order.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) In the like Sense the Order of St. Bernard is said to be only a Reform of that of St. Benedict.
1737 R. Challoner Catholick Christian Instructed xviii. 183 The Friars and Nuns that follow her [sc. St Teresa's] Reform,..are called Discalced, or Barefoot Carmelites.
1869 Chambers's Encycl. at Recollet A reform of the Cistercian order of nuns in Spain was called by the same name.
1873 Lady G. C. Fullerton Life L. de Carvajal ii. viii. 243 Her beloved friends..were both nuns of the Augustinian Reform.
1893 Mod. Lang. Notes 8 344 (heading) History and texts of the Benedictine reform of the tenth century.
1911 A. Brennan Life St. Lawrence of Brindisi xvi. 147 The Fathers of St. Giles, who belonged to the Alcantarine Reform, were delighted to receive him [sc. Father Lawrence] as their guest.
1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 June 425/2 The Observantine reform was making great headway in Ireland.
1997 P. Saenger Space between Words x. 183 The movement of Benedictine reform that germinated at the end of the tenth century in southern England..provided a ready channel for the spread of the newly separated Caroline writing.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > [noun] > levying or mobilizing > disbanding
disordering1523
disbanding1611
cash1617
cashiering1629
reducing1646
reformation1668
reform1698
disbandment1720
demobilization1850
disembodiment1871
demob1918
1698 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) IV. 416 Another reform of 25 men more will be made out of each troop of guards, which will reduce them to 150 each troop.
4. Alteration in form and content, revision, amendment; esp. the improvement or modernization of something no longer of sufficient accuracy or quality.Frequently, esp. in early use, with reference to the revision of the calendar; cf. Gregorian adj. 2, Julian adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > [noun]
rightingOE
mendmentc1300
amendment1340
correction1340
amendinga1382
mendinga1400
rectificationa1400
mendnessa1425
redress1448
addressment1481
redressa1529
remedying1547
redub1549
restauration1560
correcting1580
rightening1583
emendation1586
restitution1636
cure1675
reform1700
readjustment1749
remediation1794
redressal1800
redressment1822
1700 P. Danet Compl. Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. at Olympici They became so solemn that the Greeks made them their Epact to reckon their Years by, which were called Olympiads, and this lasted after the Reform of the Calender even to the Reign of Constantine.
1790 N. Webster Rudim. Eng. Gram. 78 (heading) On a Reform of Spelling.
1816 J. Britton Hist. & Antiq. Cathedral Church Norwich iv. 76 He was involved in another controversy with Dr. Kenicott, of Exeter-college, respecting a new translation and reform of the text of the Bible.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits x. 160 Roger Bacon explained the precession of the equinoxes, [and] the consequent necessity of the reform of the calendar.
1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 321/2 Saturnalia. This, the great festival of Saturn, was celebrated..after Caesar's reform of the calendar on the 17th of December.
1958 Proc. 8th Internat. Congr. Linguists 764 Language reform in China covers the reform of the Chinese script and the standardization of Pekingese as the national language.
1975 J. F. O'Callaghan Hist. Medieval Spain ii. 64 This was the final correction and reform of the text.
1993 Dict. National Biogr.: Missing Persons 219/1 A wider interest in the reform of handwriting encouraged him to initiate the founding of the Society for Italic Handwriting in 1952.
5. † b. A reformed person; a reformed character. Obsolete.
a. Improvement of character and conduct; the rehabilitation of criminals or people with self-destructive lifestyles.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > [noun]
chastyinga1300
amendmentc1300
risingc1350
castigationc1397
reclaima1400
reformation1425
emendationc1540
emendingc1542
recovery1542
reparence1556
emendment1569
reduction1610
reclamation1629
reclaimer1650
reform1738
1738 E. A. Burgis Ann. Church III. 277 Numbers of people began a thorough reform of their vicious manners.
1785 W. Cowper Task v. 618 Remorse begets reform.
1785 W. Cowper Task ii. 321 What vice has it subdued? whose heart reclaimed By rigour, or whom laughed into reform?
a1832 G. Crabbe New Poems (1960) 102 They believed his Sorrow true; Nay, his Reform.
1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 155/2 Institutions auxiliary to those for Punishment (Houses of Reform).
1891 H. Lynch G. Meredith 68 Richard's undertaking in the reform of spotted woman.
1902 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 3 May 1092 The intervention of psychiatry in the reform of criminals.
1958 G. M. Sykes Society of Captives i. 9 It is a cliché of modern penology that placing the offender in prison is for the purposes of punishment, deterrence, and reform.
1979 Sociol. Q. 20 316 The apparent success of Synanon in the reform of drug addicts is, I suspect, based on the insistence that the addict is made aware of the fact that he can never leave..without running serious risks of re-addiction.
2004 D. Paton No Bond but Law iii. 87 The reform of prisoners as formulated in Europe was supposed to lead to their becoming responsible and self-disciplined..individuals.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > [noun] > one who is reformed
convertite1605
reformadoa1632
reform1756
1756 T. Amory Life John Buncle I. 111 I became a thorow reform from that hour.
1759 Let. 18 July in Ordinary of Newgate's Acct. Four Malefactors (1759) 8/2 I..hope..it will make you more circumspect, and a thorough reform in your behaviour for the future.
6. Usually with capital initial. The action or process of attempting to reform or liberalize traditional Jewish beliefs and practices in order to reconcile Judaism with modern social and cultural life; this process as a movement within Judaism; (now) spec. the branch of Judaism arising from this movement; = Reform Judaism n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Judaism > [noun] > Reform Judaism
reform party1824
reform1844
Reform Judaism1874
1826 N. Amer. Rev. July 79 Our own habits and prejudices incline us to wish success to the new school of Jewish reform.]
1844 Southern Q. Rev. Apr. 359 The enlightened Israelite, witnessing the sad corruptions into which primitive Judaism has run, insists upon Reform.
1869 N.Y. Herald 4 Nov. 3/6 Eleven rabbis from the principal cities of the United States advocating reform met in conference to-day.
1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto III. 36 The paper was founded to inculcate..the principles of true Judaism... But this is rank Reform; it's worse than the papers we came to supersede.
1955 M. Sklare Conservative Judaism i. 25 It would be desirable to conclude this historical introduction with some statistics about the growth or decline of Orthodoxy, Conservatism and Reform.
1990 R. Graham God's Dominion xiii. 298 Reform has broken the rules to the point when we don't even know if they're Jewish.
2002 S. D. Kunin in Relig. in Mod. World vi. 139 In 1976 the Reform movement celebrated one hundred years of reform in America with a new statement of Reform principles.
B. adj.
Of or relating to the Reform movement in Judaism; belonging to or characteristic of Reform Judaism. Frequently in Reform Jew, Reform Synagogue. Cf. Reform Judaism n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Judaism > [noun] > Reform Judaism > person
reformer1823
Reform Jew1843
society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > synagogue > [noun] > reform
Reform Synagogue1843
1843 Voice of Jacob 27 Oct. 21/2 The Frankfort Reform Association..meets with great sympathy among a large portion of the Jews here... The Anti-reform party..seriously proposes to counteract the..‘reformers’ in an honourable manner.
1844 Southern Q. Rev. Apr. 333 An important effort was made in London..establishing a Reform Synagogue.
1860 N.Y. Times 6 Aug. 8/3 The innovations of the ‘reform party’..which he [sc. Rabbi Isaacs] attributed to religious pride... The congregation..remained uncontaminated by these pretended reforms.
1870 R. D-C. Lewin What is Judaism? 8 The signal triumphs which have attended the efforts of the Reform School of Judaism.
1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto III. 143 The Reform Synagogue, though a centre of culture and prosperity, was cold, crude, and devoid of magnetism.
1959 Tamarack Rev. Summer 12 Try to convince Gershon that she'd joined the Orthodoxes in protest against her sons' becoming Anglican-like Reform Jews.
1966 ‘A. Blaisdell’ Date with Death xvi. 208 I never was very religious, we were Reform but not much given to..keeping up with temple.
1980 Times 18 July 4/3 It is intended to broadcast a service from a Reform synagogue in London..the first occasion that an established non-Christian religious service has been included in the regular output.
1993 G. W. Packard Coping in Interfaith Family ix. 136 Our temple is very, very Reform.
2007 N.Y. Times Mag. 9 Sept. 12/2 Come on any Friday, and we will begin at a Reform Jewish Shabat service followed by a cozy oneg.
Phrases
reform through labour: the use of intensive programmes of physical labour as a means of reforming criminals; the system of forced labour resulting from this; esp. (in China) the theory or policy whereby criminals and dissidents are made to work as part of a programme of political re-education. Frequently attributive (usually hyphenated), as reform through labour camp, reform through labour farm, etc. [after Chinese láodòng gǎizào ( < láodòng (verb) to labour, (noun) labour + gǎizào (verb) to reform, transform), or its abbreviated form láogǎi.]
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > politics in India and Far East > [noun] > Chinese politics > principles or policies
Tai-pingism1860
Boxerism1900
reform through labour1913
Sun Yat-senism1925
Maoism1950
rectification1956
Great Leap Forward1958
1913 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Soc. Sci. 46 35 (title) Reform through labor.
1951 Pacific Affairs 24 70 The men were jailed and eventually put into labor gangs breaking up rocks in the streets (‘reform through labour’).
1957 P. S. H. Tang Communist China Today v. 247 The theoretical basis for the policy of ‘reform through labor’ was stated by Mao Tse-tung in his 1949 report On People's Democratic Dictatorship..promising that ‘reactionaries’ who desisted from counter-revolutionary activities would not be put to death but would be given work in order to ‘reform themselves through labour so as to become new men’.
1962 E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) xxi. 156 He inspects reform-through-labour farms.
1962 E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) xlvii. 361 No one is entitled to assume that ‘reform through labor’ in China is administered by humanitarians.
1977 China Now July 13/3 Bao spent seven years undergoing Reform Through Labour (Lao Dong Gai Zao) having been arrested in 1957.
1989 C. Chambers Story of Unity Theatre iv. 135 Aristocrats deals with the building by prisoners of the White Sea Canal, at the time the most lauded of Stalin's ‘reform-through-labour’ schemes.
1991 J. Chang Wild Swans (1993) xxii. 510 I asked a nice propaganda team man, Dong-an, who was taking us to our destination, who these zombielike people were. Convicts from a lao-gai (‘reform through labor’) camp, he replied.
Compounds
C1.
a. attributive with reference to people, institutions, etc., promoting or engaged in (esp. political and social) reform.
reform convention n.
ΚΠ
1787 J. Grieve Let. 20 Mar. in Farther Proc. Burgesses Aberdeen Pref. p. lxxviii The Committee of the Reform Convention have endeavoured to obtain the Minister's countenance and support.
1851 Documentary Hist. Amer. Industr. Society (1910) VIII. 317 A National Reform Convention is however to be held.
1979 William & Mary Q. Oct. 607 Maurice Margarot, London delegate to a reform convention, was convicted of sedition.
2007 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 25 Dec. 1 Yoffie..was expanding on a sermon made last week during the biennial Reform Convention in which he called for a return to ritual and Shabbat observance.
reform league n. now chiefly historical
ΚΠ
1839 Morning Chron. 13 Apr. On no narrower basis are we willing to join the reform league.
1857 G. F. Train Amer. Merchant 17 The rebel stockade on the Eureka—the reform league—the surprise by the troopers [etc.].
1998 A. D. Stanley From Bondage to Contract ii. 85 Dissenting views were nourished in labor journals, reform leagues, and trade unions.
reform mayor n.
ΚΠ
1836 Caledonian Mercury 28 Jan. I now conclude by proposing as a toast, ‘The health of Mr Hovell, the first Reform Mayor of the town of Cambridge, and prosperity to Cambridge’.
1895 Munsey's Mag. (N.Y.) Sept. 627/1 San Francisco has a ‘reform mayor’ in the person of Adolph Sutro.
1968 Listener 5 Sept. 290/1 His machine had just taken a terrible beating at the hands of a reform mayor.
2005 Time Out N.Y. 10 Mar. 15 What hath time and a decade of reform mayors wrought on the Manhattan institution known as the Dive Bar?
reform movement n.
ΚΠ
1834 Times 18 Sept. 2/2 The Ministerial papers, the Journal des Débats above all, endeavour to show that the ‘reform movement’ is going too fast.
1839 J. S. Mill in London & Westm. Rev. 32 476 The question is not now about particular reforms, but how to carry on the Reform movement.
1904 Musical Times Dec. 782/2 A devoted classicalist and strenuous fighter for new ideas in music, Leopold Damrosch took an active part in the reform movement.
2006 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 19 Oct. 10/1 Their beliefs came from the Wahhabi Muslim reform movement of the eighteenth century.
reform politician n.
ΚΠ
1859 Grant County (Lancaster, Wisconsin) Herald 23 June 1/6 Richard Cobden, the English Reform Politician.
1904 A. French Barrier iii. 22 The reform politicians, those bees who buzzed continually and occasionally stung, had been after the young man.
2008 Chicago Sun-Times (Nexis) 5 Jan. 11 Suffredin is endorsed by unions, IVI-IPO, suburban Democratic organizations, nearly all Chicago North Side reform politicians and Secretary of State Jesse White.
b. Parasynthetic.
reform-minded adj.
ΚΠ
1934 Forum & Cent. June 374/2 Nor can young people enthuse much over the plans offered by their reform-minded elders for the correction of conditions of moral chaos.
2000 N.Y. Times Mag. 14 May 56/3 He is faced with widespread public anticipation that he will take some of the paternity leave that his reform-minded government has just made part of British law.
C2.
reform act n. now chiefly historical an act framed to amend a system of parliamentary representation, esp. (usually with capital initial) any of those introduced in Britain during the 19th and early 20th centuries, which reformed the franchise and greatly increased the size of the electorate.
ΚΠ
1832 Times 27 Feb. 2/3 The district of Tower Hamlets alone contained..a population greater than any one of 30 of the English counties,..several of which, under the reform act, will elect between 10 and 18 representatives.
1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 309/2 By the English Reform Act of 1867..twenty-six seats were taken from boroughs.
1918 Times 23 Aug. 8/4 Above all, in 1900 there was no khaki vote. That is the great dividing line which the Reform Act has drawn between 1900 and 1918.
1999 D. Haslam Manchester, Eng. i. 22 Two more Reform Acts further increased the electorate (although about two million men and all women were still denied the vote).
reform bill n. now chiefly historical a bill proposing political or constitutional reform; spec. (with capital initials) one of the bills presented to the British parliament which ultimately resulted in one of the Reform Acts; cf. reform act n.
ΚΠ
1783 Royal Reg. VIII. 26 Mr. E—— B—'s Reform Bill, that splendid Child of Opposition.
1819 J. Bentham (title) Radical Reform Bill.
1831 (title) A chart exhibiting a list of the names of the majority and minority, on the second reading of the English Reform Bill.
1884 Manch. Examiner 26 Mar. 5/1 The great effect of successive Reform Bills has been to unify the nation.
1967 Listener 18 May 656/3 How else can one explain why the Second Reform Bill of 1867 did not sweep the Conservatives from power for ever and a day?
1987 W. Greider Secrets of Temple i. ii. 51 The same reform bills were introduced year after year in Congress.
2004 Folio Summer 9 An 1833 drawing by James Parry presented the new Reform Bill as a hideously winged and taloned creature.
reform bishop n. a bishop promoting reform, esp. with reference to Tridentine reform (in later use chiefly historical).
ΚΠ
1643 J. Bramhall Serpent Salve 230 For the French Churches, it is plain Calvine in one of his Epistles, touching a Reform Bishop, that should turne from Popery.
1831 F. Trench Let. 1 Nov. in Few Notes from Past Life (1862) 269 Some one cried out, ‘Bishop of Norwich, a reform bishop’.
1905 Atlanta (Georgia) Constitut. 28 May a7/6 Here are some of the remarkable admonitions this great reform bishop addresses to his flock and clergy [etc.].
1961 Speculum 36 96 (note) The excellent study of the activities of one reform bishop, Ratherius of Verona.
2004 L. Roper Witch Craze (2006) i. i. 23 Behaving like the model reform bishop according to Trent, he sent his representatives to conduct a painstaking visitation of the diocese.
reform Democrat n. (also with capital initial) U.S. a politician in the Democratic Party advocating a policy of reform, esp. one who advocates reforms within the Democratic Party itself.
ΚΠ
1850 Wisconsin Democrat 12 Oct. 2/3 Mr. E. is a whole-souled, double-breasted, progressive, National Reform Democrat.]
1857 Daily Wisconsin Patriot 12 Dec. Alderman Cautzhausen, a Reform Democrat, introduced a resolution calling upon the Mayor to report.
1887 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 8 Feb. 1/2 (heading) The Reform Democrats manage to get Mr. Randall into very deep water.
1972 J. Jacobson in B. Hall Autocracy & Insurgency in Organized Labor 344 Hundreds of Reform Democrats recently picketed their President when he spoke in New York.
2007 Huntsville (Alabama) Times (Nexis) 7 Nov. 6 a But didn't Rove mastermind it all to bring down a reform Democrat?
Reform Judaism n. [probably after German Reformjudentum (1863 or earlier as †Reformjudenthum)] a branch of Judaism arising in Germany in the 19th cent., which has reformed or, in some cases, abandoned traditional Jewish beliefs and practices in an attempt to reconcile Judaism with modern social and cultural life; cf. progressive Judaism n. at progressive adj. and n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Judaism > [noun] > Reform Judaism
reform party1824
reform1844
Reform Judaism1874
1874 New Era Jan. 20 I have spoken exclusively of Reform Judaism, because in this country there really is no other.
1916 H. Sacher Zionism & Jewish Future 48 Why should not all Jews recover their spiritual unity through Reform Judaism?
1938 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 10 58 Reform Judaism..undertook..a radical adaptation of the Jewish religion to modern civilization.
2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Sept. ix. 12/2 They postponed a commitment ceremony until leaders of Reform Judaism had voted to support rabbis who perform same-sex unions.
Reform-Neutral n. [after Idiom Neutral n.; compare German Reform-Neutral (1912), French Neutral-Reform (1912) in the titles of the German and French versions of the work cited in quot. 1912] now historical a reformed version of Idiom-Neutral with an even stronger Romance element, first proposed in 1907 and published in 1912 by W. K. Rosenberger and E. J. de Wahl; cf. occidental n. 2.
ΚΠ
1912 W. K. Rosenberger (title) Manual of the practical universal language Reform-Neutral.
1928 O. Jespersen Internat. Lang. i. 49 Occidental..forms..a continuation of Neutral and especially of Rosenberger's Reform-Neutral.
1969 La Monda Lingvo-problemo 1 183 Artificial languages whose lexical or grammatical systems or both are derived from one or more than one natural language (e.g. Reform-Neutral, Novo-Latin, etc.).
reform party n. chiefly North American a political party that advocates or introduces reform; frequently (with capital initials) as the name of such a party.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Judaism > [noun] > Reform Judaism
reform party1824
reform1844
Reform Judaism1874
1824 A. B. Richmond Narr. Condition Manufacturing Population 59 It was unconnected with the proceedings of the reform party, everything they intended being openly and publicly avowed.
1833 Liberal (St. Thomas, U.C.) 19 Sept. 2/4 And if the Reform party be silent, the partizans of Government should be still.
1851 G. Borrow Lavengro c I think of the two, the liberal or reform party were the most inveterate.
1970 D. Goldrich et al. in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. v. 189 It is much more common for ‘reform’ parties to symbolize the peasant as the forgotten.
2004 Canad. Public Policy 30 459/2 The writings of Canadian political scientists on such matters as the roots of secessionist pressure in Quebec and the rise of the Reform Party dominate the account.
reform parliament n. (frequently with capital initial(s)) now historical a parliament elected under a new franchise stipulated by one of the Reform Acts of 19th and early 20th cent. Britain, esp. the first parliament elected after the Great Reform Act of 1832.
ΚΠ
1832 Times 22 June 4/3 The first Reform Parliament have much to do, requiring able legislation.
1868 (title) Proposal for an Indian policy under the new Reform Parliament.
1891 Dict. National Biogr. XXVI. 403/1 Being returned for Hull in the first reform parliament, he strongly supported all measures for improving the law and extending liberty.
1998 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 23 Feb. 21 At the opening of the 1832 Reform Parliament, it was the Whigs who were the true blues.
reform school n. chiefly North American = reformatory school n. at reformatory adj. and n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > reform school
house of reformation1581
reformatory1758
reform school1839
truant-school1872
training school1905
approved school1932
juvie1967
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prison > [noun] > reformatory prison > for young offenders
house of reformation1581
reformatory1758
reform school1839
Borstal1907
community home1915
boot camp1978
1839 T. Wyse in Papers Central Soc. Educ. III. 386 Superintendence and training; schools of Art; Reform schools for young criminals; guardianship of illegitimate children.
1847 Acts & Resolves Gen. Court Mass. 405 There shall be established, in the town of Westborough..a school, for the instruction, employment, and reformation, of juvenile offenders, to be called the State Reform School.
1913 J. London Valley of Moon i. 3 An' her with seven, an' two of 'em in reform school.
1990 L. H. Birnie Rock & Hard Place v. 66 He was sentenced to an indefinite period in reform school in Ontario.
2003 D. Gaines Misfit's Manifesto ii. 34 I made sense of this music through the context in which I experienced it,..a time when suburban street gangs, back-alley abortions, reform school, bad reputations, and probation officers ruled the day.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
reformv.1
/rᵻˈfɔːm/, U.S. /riˈfɔrm/, /rəˈfɔrm/ 1. intransitive. To renew something. Also transitive. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 81 Þe uayrhede of þe zaule..yelt and yefþ to þe zaule grace and uirtue and loue of god, uor hy reformeþ [c1450 Bk. Vices & Virtues confourmeþ] and agrayþeþ and him yelt his ryȝte pryente.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1895) II. 64 That the promise quhilk thair elderis maid..now tha reforme [L. renovarent].
2.
a. transitive. To restore to full strength or health, or to proper function. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Judith xiii. 30 Achior..fel in to his face vpon the erthe, and his lif quappide. After forsothe that, the spirit taken aȝeen, he is reformed [L. recreatus].
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 1 Kings xvi. 23 Whan euere þe euyl spirit of þe lord cauȝte Saul, dauyd tooc an harpe & smoot wiþ hys hond, & Saul was refourmed [a1425 L.V. was coumfortid; L. refocillabatur].
?a1450 tr. Macer Herbal (Stockh.) (1949) 65 (MED) This same emplastre is good a-ȝeins houndes-byting and cancres and..reformyþ and conseueth þe flesh.
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 12478 (MED) A man in A moment May..Lese a membre, ffoot or hond, Wych he shal..nat recure Ageyn..To refourme yt as yt was.
1556 in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) And in cais the said knok be spoilt or striks not justlye,..the said David to..mend and reforme the samyn.
1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 75 These distempered bodies are reformed by artfull knowledge.
b. transitive. To restore or change back (a person or thing) to an original form or state, or to a previous condition (esp. a better one). Chiefly with to, into. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > restore [verb (transitive)] > a thing to or into previous condition
reversec1350
reforma1393
recover1393
converta1425
reduce?a1425
revolve1431
returnc1436
recure?1440
remayne1481
relieve1483
redressc1500
restaur1508
reprieve?1567
recollect1606
redeem1613
regain1624
to bring back1662
re-reducea1676
the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > restore [verb (transitive)] > re-form
reforma1393
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 3035 (MED) His mannes forme ayein he tok, And was reformed to the regne In which that he was wont to regne.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 2945 (MED) The king..thoghte..To don his sacrifice..His brother hele to pourchace, So that he mihte be reformed Of that he hadde be transformed [sc. a goshawk].
?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 24 (MED) Of my greet loue..my wil was to refoorme ȝou aȝeen to grace.
c1440 (?a1396) W. Hilton in G. G. Perry Eng. Prose Treat. (1921) 15 (MED) Þe myghtes of þe saule er refourmede by grace to þe dignyte and þe state of þe firste condicione.
c1475 (?a1449) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1911) i. 136 (MED) Suych as be pensiff, mak hem glad & murie; Distraut in thouht, reforme hem to resoun.
c1475 Wisdom (Folger) (1969) 968 All þe penance þat may be wrought,..Wythowt sorowe of hert relesyt nought; That in especyall reformyth man Ande makyt hym as clene as when he begane.
c1480 (a1400) St. John Evangelist 136 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 113 Sancte Iohne..tuk vpe þe pecis small, and..be his prayere þar fut-hate reformyt þam to þe fyrste state.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 204 (MED) He rebukid the forsayden breenys and bourkeyns..and Ham to Pees reformed.
1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 815/2 It is true nowe that God is reuealed to vs when he reformeth vs to his image.
1643 W. Slatyer Compl. Christian v. iv. 712 We are deified, as we may speake, made divine like God, reformed to his image in grace here, in glory hereafter.
1672 S. Parker in J. Bramhall Vindic. Himself Pref. sig. A6 To clear the Christian Faith of all Corruptions and innovations, and reform it into its primitive and uncorrupted simplicity.
3. transitive. To restore, re-establish (peace, unity, etc.). Cf. reformation n.1 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > pacification > make (peace) [verb (transitive)] > restore (peace)
reforma1387
society > society and the community > dissent > absence of dissension or peace > bringing about concord or peace > bring to peace (strife or discord) [verb (transitive)] > restore (peace)
reforma1387
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1882) VIII. 243 Pees is reformed [L. reformata] bytwene kyng Henry and Lewelyn prince of Wales at Mountgomorik.
a1400 tr. R. Rolle Oleum Effusum (Harl.) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 188 (MED) Þis name Ihesu lele halden in mynde..wastes discorde, reformes pees.
a1450 (?c1421) J. Lydgate Siege Thebes (Arun.) (1911) l. 4702 (MED) Charite..shal her bryghte beemys sprede..Forto reforme a-twixe Regyouns Pees and quyet, concord and vnyte.
a1464 J. Capgrave Chron. Eng. (Cambr.) 297 (MED) Ther were..a gret noumbyr of prelatis, alle sette on this holy conclusion to reforme unite in Holy Cherch.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 182/1 In theyr solempnytees pees was reformed bytwene the lombardes and the emperour of Rome.
1556 in J. G. Nichols Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 16 That pesse shulde be reformyd be-twene Yngland and France.
1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 52 Lion King of Ermony [came to him] under pretence to reforme peace betwixt the Kings of England and France.
?a1600 (a1500) Sc. Troy Bk. (Cambr.) l. 1411 in C. Horstmann Barbour's Legendensammlung (1882) II. 269 But reformede Anthenores [perh. read Anthenor(h)es] pese Amonges thame.
4. transitive. Originally Scottish. To restore (a building) after destruction, decay, or damage; to rebuild, repair. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > restore [verb (transitive)] > to original state > specifically a building
restorec1325
reform1448
1448–9 in W. C. Dickinson Early Rec. Burgh Aberdeen (1957) p. lx The said Jhone decernit..to tak in and reform the samyn [building] say at the said Symont be skathles thairof.
c1480 (a1400) St. Lawrence 582 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 418 Lumbardis had brynt it in were..þane gat he men of craft to wyrk & to reforme þis haly kyrk.
1520 Chron. Eng. iii. f. 23v/2 He refourmed the temple of God better and encreased the cytee of Jherusalem.
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 57 The castell..was reformit againe new better nor it was befoir.
1606 W. Warner Continuance Albions Eng. xiv. lxxxvii. 358 Reforming first their thrise-reard wall.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 101 Seat worthier of Gods, as built With second thoughts, reforming what was old! View more context for this quotation
II. Senses relating to change or correction.† 9. † 10. transitive. Military. To form (troops) into a new regiment or company; to reorganize or disband (a regiment); (hence) to dismiss (troops) from service as part of this process. Cf. reformed adj.1 5. Obsolete.Distinct from later re-form v.2 2a.
5.
a. transitive. To put into another and better form; to amend or improve by alteration of form, arrangement, or composition; to correct errors or remove defects in. Also (esp. in earlier use) with into, †unto, etc. Also occasionally intransitive.In early use commonly in spiritual contexts with the sense ‘to transform’, and often difficult to distinguish from examples of sense 2b with a spiritual application.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] > amend by change of form
reformc1384
the world > space > shape > shape or give shape to [verb (transitive)] > give another shape to
forshapeOE
transfigurea1340
transformc1340
transfigurate?a1475
turkess1530
turkish1560
turken1575
metamorphose1576
metamorphize1587
reform1634
deform1702
reshape1794
transmould1855
metamorphosize1888
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Philipp. iii. 21 Lord Jhesu Crist, the which schal refoorme [L. reformabit] the body of oure mekenesse.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Rom. xii. 2 Nyle ȝe be confoormed or maad lyk to this world, but be ȝe refoormed [L. reformamini] in newenesse of ȝoure witt.
c1450 (a1400) Orologium Sapientiæ in Anglia (1888) 10 380 (MED) What-tyme þat hee is so purged of vices..hee schalle with-oute stintynge loue god & preyse god, refourmed into aungellis liknesse.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Gouernaunce of Princis (1993) xxii. 91 To put him jn his rycht proporcioun of humouris and reforme his complexioun.
1495 Act 11 Hen. VII c. 24 §6 Panells..shall herafter be refourmed by addicions and taking oute of names of persones by discrecion of the same Justices.
1565 J. Jewel tr. St. Cyril of Alexandria in Replie Hardinges Answeare x. 424 The Water of Baptisme by the workinge of the holy Ghost, is reformed vnto a Diuine power.
1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. xiii. 217 His orderly proceeding appeareth in this, that he first visited and then reformed.
1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1397/1 That the kalendar once reformed according to this plot, need neuer hereafter either to be altered or amended.
1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. J. L. G. de Balzac Lett. 208 He would needes reforme all the fortifications of those strong places we passed by; he trode on no earth at which he carped not.
1662 J. Evelyn Sculptura v. 140 The prints reformed and improved to the utmost, by the skillfull hand of some rare Artist.
1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 130 'Tis Prudence to reform her into Ease.
1722 F. Brerewood tr. J. Terrasson Crit. Diss. Homer's Iliad I. iii. v. 539 Tasso, who has borrow'd this Idea from Homer, but reform'd and improv'd it.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Calendar His [sc. Romulus's] Calendar was reform'd by Numa, who added two more Months.
1772 W. Jones Poems 28 Describ'd the seasons, and reform'd the year.
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) II. 26 Persons who have been disfigured..have it in their power to reform their looks.
1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sketches (1873) II. i. ii. 95 He patronised learning and poetry, and he reformed the calendar.
1875 A. C. Swinburne Ess. & Stud. 225 The punctilious if not pedantic precision which has reformed the whole scheme of punctuation.
1924 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 45 213 In 46 B.C. Caesar reformed the calendar, inaugurating a new era.
1998 L. E. Tise Amer. Counterrevol. xx. 359 Franklin viewed the youthful author as a potential collaborator in reforming the English language into a simpler, more consistent American language.
2001 D. W. Hands Refl. without Rules iv. 132 The reformist brand of naturalism employs science to reform epistemology.
b. transitive. To correct, emend (a book, writing, etc.); to revise, edit; (also) to correct the writing of (an author). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > textual criticism > practise textual criticism [verb (transitive)] > emend
amend?c1225
correctc1374
reformc1425
emaculate1623
mend1631–2
castigate1666
rectify1730
emend1769
doctor?c1775
redress1796
emendate1876
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iii. l. 551 (MED) Chaucer now, allas, is nat alyue Me to reforme or to be my rede.
R. Misyn tr. R. Rolle Fire of Love 1 (MED) The whilk boke..to reforme I make protestacyon, with entent no þinge to wryte..agayns þe faith..of holy kyrk.
1466 in J. Stuart Misc. Spalding Club (1842) II. 251 To eik or repar or refovrme thir saide endenturis.
1497–8 Old City Acct. Bk. in Archæol. Jrnl. (1886) 43 169 Pd..for mendyng and reformyng an Article of our ordinances viijd.
1528 in Vicary's Anat. Bodie of Man (1888) App. xiv. 249 To peruse, oversee, examyne, Refourme, & correcte suche Bookes and ordynaunces.
1568 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Dial Princes (rev. ed.) title-p. Now newly revised and corrected.., refourmed of faultes escaped in the first edition.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. ii. iii. 320 I would..Correct those errors in Navigation, reforme Cosmographicall Chartes, and rectifie longitudes.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 489 Geffery Chaucer, whose life is written at large, by Thomas Speght, (who by old copies, reformed his workes).
1705 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. 8 Sept. (O.H.S.) I. 42 The original Author of the Private Devotions, wch Dr. Hicks..reform'd.
1737 Daily Jrnl. 11 Feb. 1/1 The Case is at present widely different with his Amenders; and he that would attempt to reform Shakespeare..may act without Complaisance.
c1779 R. Cumberland in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) (Camden) 412 I have reformed the passages you pointed out and..written a Prologue.
1814 M. Edgeworth Patronage II. xxii. 278 On these points it is requisite to reform the pandects of criticism.
1861 C. Hardwick Hist. Christian Church Middle Age (ed. 2) 292 Hugo de S. Charo.., who by the aid of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin MSS. reformed the text of the whole Bible.
1933 Classical Q. 27 214 Stein ruthlessly reformed the text of Herodotus.
2004 Asia Pulse (Nexis) 5 May The Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standard..reformed the text of the standards to match guidelines set by the Bureau of Products Standard of the Department of Trade and Industry.
c. transitive. Law. Originally: †to revise and amend (a judgment) (obsolete). In later use (chiefly U.S.): to correct (an instrument) according to the original intention when an error has been introduced; to construe (a legal document, etc.) in this way.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > judging > appeal or review > [verb (transitive)] > review > revise (a judgement)
reform1560
society > law > jurisprudence > jurisprudence [verb (transitive)] > interpret for legal purposes > allow to be according to intention
reform1824
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries xv. f. cicix They requyre, that accordyng to the olde lawes of the empire, and Themprours declaration, that iudgemente may be reformed, and other iudges appoynted.
1586 in Eng. Hist. Rev. Jan. (1920) 107 That he might have leave to reforme and alter the same [message or charge] according to the true intent and meaninge of the saide house.
c1670 T. Hobbes Dial. Com. Laws (1681) 63 Erroneous Judgments are only to be reform'd by the High Court of Parliament.
1755 N. Magens Ess. Insurances I. 440 His Majesty is disposed..to have the Judgement reformed, in case the Pleas of the adverse Party, so suing, should be found valid.
1824 Simons & Stuart Rep. Cases Chanc. I. 210 (margin) A Court of Equity will reform an Instrument which, by the mistake of the Drawer, admits of a construction inconsistent with the true Agreement of the Parties, although the Party seeking to reform it himself drew the Instrument.
1878 Amer. Law Reg. 26 137 The defendants insisted that the number of the range in the first deed was a mistake,..and they insisted that the instrument should be reformed accordingly.
1922 Virginia Law Rev. 9 140 Equity reformed the instrument so as to conform to the original agreement.
1989 Times 16 Feb. 36/4 The parties all agreed that the July deed ought to be reformed.
2007 New Jersey Lawyer (Nexis) 17 Dec. 37 The trial court concluded..that the contract could not be reformed because there was no evidence that the employee had agreed to accept a lesser amount.
6. † b. transitive. Chiefly Scottish. To redress (a wrong, grievance, etc.); to make reparation for (a loss, damage); (more generally) to make good, make amends for. Obsolete.† d. transitive. To remove (a natural fault or imperfection) by some corrective action or procedure. Obsolete. rare.† e. transitive. To remove or clean away (a mark or stain). Obsolete. rare.
a. transitive. To put a stop to or remedy (an abuse, malpractice, etc.) by enforcing a better procedure or course of conduct. Formerly also occasionally with into, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] > reform > specifically an abuse
reforma1393
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 1537 (MED) Wherof full many a gret debat Reformed is to good astat.
c1439 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1862) IV. 190 The sayde Lorde of Forbes..and his sonys [are]..to refowrme..that thai halfe defawlttyt.
c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Stans Puer (Laud) in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 743 A rod refourmeth al her insolence.
c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) Prol. 21 (MED) Rewthe was if reson ne had reffourmed The myssecheff & þe mysserule þat men þo in endurid.
?1542 H. Brinkelow Complaynt Roderyck Mors i. sig. A6 Such abuses as are to be reformed in the realme.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. ii. sig. N6v Sir Artegall vndid the euill fashion, And wicked customes of that Bridge refourmed . View more context for this quotation
1619 Sir R. Naunton in S. R. Gardiner Fortescue Papers (1871) 96 The best remedies they can for reforming what they find faultie.
1658 W. Sanderson Compl. Hist. Life King Charles 195 The foul undecent Discipline, he seeks to reform into Sacred Worship.
1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar in Wks. (1707) I. 120 I am resolv'd..to reform these Disorders.
1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. iii. 74 We are resolv'd to reform several Practices..in their Behaviour.
1774 T. Wharton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1775) II. 280 To reform the illiteracy of the clergy.
1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 9 He could reform every abuse.
1895 Yale Law Jrnl. 4 216 They fully appreciated the fact that in the attempt to reform abuses, the abuses of reformation were to be avoided.
1923 F. L. Pattee Devel. Amer. Short Story vii. 152 The period..was characterized chiefly by..an outburst of wild desires to reform all abuses and to bring the world swiftly to a golden age of love and beauty and feminine dreams.
1985 Church Hist. 54 78 Chroniclers..expect to show how the ecclesiastical past has benefited adherents by sustaining traditions, reforming malpractices, and ameliorating cultural conditions.
1991 R. Oliver Afr. Experience (1993) vii. 87 On his return journey..he consulted a leading jurist of the Malikite school about how best to reform the lax and corrupt observance of Islam by his own people.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] > put right (a wrong or loss)
winc1220
righta1275
astorec1300
addressa1325
reform1405
dressc1410
redressa1413
arightc1420
refound1497
richa1500
redub1531
repair1533
to make good1569
reducec1592
remend1592
to set up1610
to get up1688
1405 in J. Slater Early Scots Texts (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Edinb.) (1952) No. 59 The gret attemptatz that yhour men dois..I suppos & yhe wist it, ȝhe walde..ger it be refourmyte & redressit.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 5333 (MED) Alle we Ben of oon wil to reforme oure wrong.
1461 R. Calle in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 237 ij or iij eyers had ben with my lorde and shewed her evidence..seyng þey haue had gret wrong, besechyng my lorde þat it myght be reformed.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 174 To reforme all harmes and scathis yat suld be done throu his men.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 682/2 If I have done any thynge amysse, I wyll reforme it.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) I. 459 Beseikand him..to reforme the greit dampnage and cryme Tha had sustenit.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) ix. 61 Ther eftir thai reformit the distructione of the tempil.
1609 J. Skene tr. Forme of Proces in Regiam Majestatem 126 b Vntill..he be summoned,..and his expenses payed and reformed to him.
c. transitive. To correct, put right (an error, a mistake). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] > specifically an error or fault
correct1340
reforma1475
resarce1524
redub1537
redouble1542
mend?1566
rectify1588
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 7441 (MED) Thyn errour to reforme, Thow must thy-sylff mekly confourme To thys garnement.
1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII c. 27 §113 Al errours in plees personall shalbe reformed by billes, to be sued before the saied presidente.
?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) iii. xi. sig. R iv v But if ye finde any discrepance or variaunce betweene them, ye shall by the ayde of some skilfull Artificer refourme it in the lesser.
1646 W. Eldred (title) The gunners glass, wherein the diligent practicioner may see his defects, and may..reform and amend all errors that are commonly incident to unskilful gunners.
1785 W. Cowper Tirocinium in Task 445 Young heads are giddy,..And make mistakes for manhood to reform . View more context for this quotation
1848 A. Brontë Tenant of Wildfell Hall I. xvi. 278 He sat beside me..beguiling himself with the notion that he was..reforming my errors of judgement.
1924 Mod. Lang. Rev. 19 291 This paper deals with a proposal made in 1660 to establish an academy whose duty would be to reform errors in books.
2006 P. Marshall & A. Walsham Angels in Early Mod. World i. 38 More hoped that reports of this kind would reform the errors of ‘coarse grain'd philosophers’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > treatment of specific diseases or conditions > treat specific diseases or conditions [verb (transitive)] > remove fault or blemish
reform1547
1547 A. Borde Breuiary of Helthe i. f. xxiiiiv As stuttynge that doth come by nature it can nat be holpen except it be reformed in youth by some discrete tutor.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. 240 Euery man may..reforme by arte, the faultes and imperfections that nature hath wrought in them.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > clean [verb (transitive)]
yclense971
cleansea1000
farmOE
fayc1220
fowc1350
absterse?a1425
mundify?a1425
muck1429
to cast clean1522
absterge1526
sprinkle1526
reconcile1535
net1536
clengec1540
neat?1575
snuff?1575
rinse1595
deterge1623
scavengea1644
scavenger1645
decrott1653
reform1675
clean1681
deterse1684
fluxa1763
to clean away, offa1839
to clean down1839
scavage1851
untaint1855
to sand and canvas1912
1675 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Odysses xxiv. 300 Then we bare your Body to the Fleet, And there the blemishes thereof reform With water fair and warm.
7.
a. transitive. To make a change in (an institution, practice, state of affairs, etc.) in order to correct defects, remove abuses, or otherwise improve performance.In quot. 1649 used ironically.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] > reform
reform1409
1409 in J. Stuart & G. Burnett Exchequer Rolls Scotl. (1880) IV. ccx The party feland him engrefit sal ask the thingis to be refourmit and amendit at the tothir.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 1134 (MED) Hym was loth for to do vengance, Wher-as he myȝt in esy wyse trete For to reforme þinges smale & grete.
1432 Rolls of Parl. IV. 405/1 The saide Statute..was by anoyer Statute..revoked and adnulled, unto right grete harm..Lyke it yerfore unto youre highnesse..to have ye saide first Statute of newe refourmed.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. xlviii Callynge a Counsaylle [he] Refourmed many thynges for the weale of his Realme.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. clxxxv Howe the state of the weale publike, as well ciuile, as ecclesiasticall maye or ought to be reformed [L. emendari].
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iv. viii. 185 There hath arisen a sect in England, which..seeketh to reforme euen the French reformation.
1649 C. Walker Anarchia Anglicana 35 For, in the interim they Garrisoned Black Fryars and S. Pauls, reforming it, from the Church of God, to a Den of Thieves, &c.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxx. 177 To doe no more than reforme the Common-wealth.
1654 J. Bramhall Just Vindic. Church of Eng. iii. 43 God used him as an Instrument to reform his Church.
1727 J. Gay Fables I. xiv. 46 A Monkey, to reform the times, Resolv'd to visit foreign climes.
1759 A. Gerard Ess. on Taste i. vi. 70 Butler represents all ranks as intent on reforming the church and the state.
1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall V. xlix. 155 After a long series of scandal, the apostolic see was reformed and exalted by the austerity and zeal of Gregory VII.
1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose i in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. III. 161 He contrived at once to gratify and to elude the eager desires of the Presbyterians, by qualifying the obligation to reform the Church of England.
1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany (ed. 2) I. 121 He was bound by the concessions he made in 1489 to reform the administration of justice.
1869 S. Smiles Huguenots Eng. & Ireland (ed. 3) ii. 22 There were..many eminent churchmen who sought to reform it [sc. the Church] from within.
1890 Catholic World Jan. 551 She [sc. St Teresa] reformed the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
1907 Catholic Encycl. II. 437/1 Hildemar..reformed the monastery of Sts. Faustinus and Jovita at Brescia and died in 840.
1937 W. Lippmann Good Society iii. xi. 209 Present-day men can reform the social order by changing the laws.
1992 N.Y. Times 23 June a19/4 We're going to adopt the toughest possible system to reform the health-care system, and bring health care costs under control.
2003 Sociol. Relig. 64 516 The Catholics..are primarily involved in efforts aimed at reforming the Church.
b. intransitive. To undertake a process of reform; to introduce reforms.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > provide a remedy [verb (intransitive)] > reform
reform1480
1480 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 63 And the seid priour of the same monasterie to refourme and to make a direccion therof.
1565 in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) Gif nane of the pairteis reformis..the schireff sall pronunce his interlocutour.
1642 J. Denham Cooper's Hill 8 May no such storme Fall on our times, where ruine must reforme.
a1651 R. Steward Three Serm. (1658) 44 What marvel then, if we reform, and so use her Liturgy, if we first rectifie, and then keep her Ceremonies?
1796 E. Burke Let. to Noble Lord in Wks. (1815) VIII. 20 It cannot at this time be too often repeated, line upon line, precept upon precept..to innovate is not to reform.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1890) I. i. 49 A body of members anxious to preserve, and a body eager to reform.
1860 Methodist Rev. Apr. 230 We must reform because of our success.
1963 R. T. Shannon Gladstone & Bulgarian Agitation i. ii. 17 It ignored his central thesis that Turkey must reform to survive.
2005 J. Winpenny Guaranteeing Devel.? i. 21 These bodies need to reform..to become more efficient and creditworthy.
c. To abolish, destroy, or remove entirely by, or by way of, reform.† (a) transitive. Scottish. Without adverbial complement. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1493 in T. Thomson Acts Lords Auditors (1839) 182/2 Certane charteris letteris and evidentis..retrettit reformit cassit and annullit and declarit of nane avale.
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 385/27 The King of Ingland had laitlie refformett and cassin doune the abbayis and all the rest of idolatrie.
a1605 R. Bannatyne Jrnl. Trans. in Scotl. (1806) 285 Gif that misordered creatione of bischopes be not reformed.
(b) transitive. With adverbial complement, esp. away.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] > reform > remove by way of reformation
reform1654
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > remove or take away > by way of reformation
reform1654
1654 S. Ward Vindiciæ Academiarum vii. 41 If he could reforme out of the Universities, our studied Arts and Languages, so farre as to banish from us the use of even the Latine Tongue.
1694 F. Atterbury Power of Charity 20 Our Adversaries of the Church of Rome; Who cry'd Us down, as Men that were Reforming away Good Works, and turning all Religion into a Notional Faith.
1705 S. Grascome Moderation in Fashion vii. 203 They would be always reforming, till they had reformed away the Christian Religion it self.
1715 R. South 12 Serm. IV. 27 In those Days, when the Revenues of the Church were not wholly reformed from it.
1799 W. C. Smith Lett. Union iii. 24 The competence of Representatives to reform away the privileges of those who have returned them.
1849 T. C. Haliburton Old Judge 215 Mothers were..assured that Latin and Greek..were exploded, or, as it was quaintly expressed, ‘reformed out’.
1897 Labouchere in Daily News 17 Mar. 3/7 His idea of reform was to reform the Armenians off the face of the globe.
1950 Times 20 Mar. 5/3 The expectation may have been fostered among criminals that they will find that the salutary discomforts of prison have been reformed away.
2002 Public Admin. Rev. 58 270/1 The frustration of legislative ‘micromanagement’ has prompted U.S. reforms (often with the assumption that legislative ‘meddling’ can be reformed away).
8. † a. transitive. To reprove, rebuke; to punish. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > [verb (transitive)]
threac897
tighta1000
beswinkc1175
punisha1325
chastise1362
paina1375
justifya1393
wage1412
reformc1450
chasten1526
thwart over thumba1529
chastifyc1540
amerce?1577
follow1579
to rap (a person) on the knuckles (also fingers)1584
finea1616
mulcta1620
fita1625
vindicate1632
trounce1657
reward1714
tawse1790
sort1815
to let (a person) have it1823
visit1836
to catch or get Jesse1839
to give, get goss1840
to have ita1848
to take (a person) to the woodshed1882
to give (one) snuff1890
soak1892
give1906
to weigh off1925
to tear down1938
zap1961
slap1968
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (transitive)]
threac897
threapc897
begripea1000
threata1000
castea1200
chaste?c1225
takec1275
blame1297
chastya1300
sniba1300
withnima1315
undernima1325
rebukec1330
snuba1340
withtakea1340
reprovec1350
chastisea1375
arate1377
challenge1377
undertake1377
reprehenda1382
repreync1390
runta1398
snapea1400
underfoc1400
to call to account1434
to put downc1440
snebc1440
uptakec1440
correptc1449
reformc1450
reprise?c1450
to tell (a person) his (also her, etc.) own1450
control1451
redarguec1475
berisp1481
to hit (cross) one over (of, on) the thumbs1522
checkc1530
admonish1541
nip1548
twig?1550
impreve1552
lesson1555
to take down1562
to haul (a person) over the coals1565
increpate1570
touch1570
school1573
to gather up1577
task1580
redarguate?1590
expostulate1592
tutor1599
sauce1601
snip1601
sneap1611
to take in tax1635
to sharp up1647
round1653
threapen1671
reprimand1681
to take to task1682
document1690
chapter1693
repulse1746
twink1747
to speak to ——1753
haul1795
to pull up1799
carpet1840
rig1841
to talk to1860
to take (a person) to the woodshed1882
rawhide1895
to tell off1897
to tell (someone) where he or she gets off1900
to get on ——1904
to put (a person) in (also into) his, her place1908
strafe1915
tick1915
woodshed1935
to slap (a person) down1938
sort1941
bind1942
bottle1946
mat1948
ream1950
zap1961
elder1967
c1450 (c1415) in W. O. Ross Middle Eng. Serm. (1940) 122 And þi broþur trespase aȝeyns, first, he sais, reforme hym be-twex þe and hym.
c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn 3438 (MED) & yee deme vntrewly, or do vs eny wrong, Yee shull be refourmyd, be ye nevir so strong, Of euery poynt and Iniury.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope ii. Pref. By cause they were not customed to be refourmed ne chastysed, whan ony of them was corrected and punysshed, they were gretely troubled.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Jonah (heading) Ionas is angrie, and complayneth of God which refourmeth him.
1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. ii. iv. f. 75/2, in R. Holinshed Chron. I At these meetings, also..roges, and runnagates are often reformed for their excesses.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. i. sig. N He..The lady to alight did eft require, Whilest he reformed that vnciuill fo. View more context for this quotation
1602 T. Fitzherbert Def. Catholyke Cause xviii. f. 31v Haue not a number of them notwithstanding all this, ben by their subiects chastised, and reformed, deposed, expelled, imprisoned, killed.
1694 tr. E. Benoist Hist. Famous Edict of Nantes II. xi. 521 The Ecclesiastical Body itself would not have bin sorry to have seen stifl'd and extinguish'd so many Fires kindl'd to reform and punish 'em.
b. transitive. To encourage or force (a person) to abandon a way of life regarded as wrong, and to adopt a better one; to cause to relinquish an immoral, self-destructive, or criminal lifestyle; to bring about a thorough change in (a person's conduct). Also (chiefly in early use) with into, †unto, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > reform, amend, or correct [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person
raisec1175
chastya1240
amenda1275
chastisec1330
reara1382
revokec1384
redressc1390
reclaima1393
reducec1425
reform1477
reclaim?a1505
emendc1542
claim1546
reduct1548
save1857
decriminalize1963
1477 Earl Rivers tr. Dictes or Sayengis Philosophhres (Caxton) (1877) lf. 8v To reforme the euyl disposed vnto goodnesse.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) ii. lii. 54 Sathan..myght not be refourmyd by cause of his vnchangeabylyte.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Knychthede (1993) iii. 24 Syk men yat begylis thair lordis may neuer be refourmyt na redressit till lautee—na till honour of knychthede.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. lxxxiii. f. xxxii For the whiche ii. holy Bysshoppes..came into Brytaygne to refourme the kynge and al other that Erryd from the waye of trouth.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Prov. v. C Because he wolde not be refourmed, he shal dye.
1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. iii. 60 Those wilfull cubbes which neither by teaching nor by example will be reformed must feele the smart of the rod.
1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes i. §46. 81 What usurer, what deceiver is reformed by this Plague?
1680 Bp. G. Burnet Some Passages Life Rochester (1692) 61 A man is never thoroughly reformed till a new principle governs his thoughts.
1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. iv. 99 Will you call my Father's Desire to reform your Life, a putting hard upon you?
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) III. 540 As we must not go to ruin the men whom we wish to reform.
1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. p. xxxi Far be it from us to discourage any effort made to reform juvenile offenders.
1869 Catholic World Feb. 638/1 His wife had left him in despair of reforming his intemperate habits.
1871 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera I. ix. 6 I have not the slightest intention..of setting myself to mend or reform people.
1900 Westm. Gaz. 22 Jan. 2/3 He won mainly on his promise that he would reform the city barber into charging two dollars fifty cents for a hair-cut.
1941 J. R. R. Tolkien Let. 6–8 Mar. (1995) 50 They will take a rotter open-eyed, and even when the delusion of reforming him fails, go on loving him.
1995 Fauquier (Va.) Times-Democrat 20 Sept. a5/3 The commission recommends developing boot camp-style programs to reform juvenile offenders.
c. transitive. To improve (a person's conduct or character). Also reflexive: to improve one's own conduct, character, etc. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > reform [verb (reflexive)]
amenda1275
menda1387
reform1512
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > reform, amend, or correct [verb (transitive)] > specific faults, evil ways, etc.
beetc950
menda1382
reform1512
1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII c. 19 Preamble The seid Frensche Kyng..the Decree of the enterdiccion dispysyng will not therby reforme himselfe.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Esdras xiv. 34 Yf so be that ye wil subdue youre owne vnderstandinge, and refourme youre hert [etc.].
a1555 H. Latimer Frutefull Serm. (1572) ii. f. 202 The winde and waters obeyed him, and refourmed themselues according to his woorde.
1558–9 in C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (1845) I. lxiv And cause his lordschips servands to reforme thamselfis.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. v. 68 And as we heare you do reforme your selues, We will according to your strengths and qualities, Giue you aduauncement. View more context for this quotation
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 118 He had rather leave your company, then reform his life. View more context for this quotation
1706 D. Baker Hist. Job iv. 82 If This the Portion be by Heav'n bestow'd on just and pious Men, who will be Good? Who will reform his Ways?
1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. i. 14 How justly might they bid him hold his Tongue, and go and reform his Life, before he pretended to instruct them.
1862 Southern Literary Messenger Aug. 473/1 As yet uncle [sic] Davy had not reformed his life, nor had he become a Baptist.
1897 G. Gissing Whirlpool i. ii. 17 If you give up housekeeping (and housekeepers), why not reform your life altogether? Go and have a look at Australia.
1967 Jrnl. Philos. 64 109 Those who are guilty of grave offences, but who have reformed their ways.
1992 Sports Illustr. 16 Nov. 76/3 Pinkney..reformed himself and became a high school All-America.
2004 D. Braman Doing Time on Outside (2007) ii. v. 47 He was promising to reform his ways, writing long letters of regret.
d. transitive. To cause (a person) to desist from an immoral or undesirable course of conduct; to cure of a fault or vice. Also in extended use. Now somewhat archaic.
ΚΠ
a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 875 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 122 To reforme ye howlot of faltis full fell.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 86 Thay will not be reformit from thair sin.
1656 F. Roberts Communicant Instructed 134 Godly sorrow is penitential, it never leaves a man till it reform him of his sins.
1699 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ II. iii. xi. 109 The Grecians were much reform'd from the Inhumanity..of their own Ancestours.
1714 J. Swift Some Free Thoughts upon Present State Affairs (1741) 20 The House of Hanover..is the nearest Branch of our Regal Line reformed from Popery.
1858 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia II. x. i. 567 Lieutenant Buddenbrock..is now reformed from those practices.
1866 ‘Dr. Primrose’ Boy's Wonder Bk. I. 20 My sister Alice had hoped when she married Ben to reform him of his passion for four-footed pets by furnishing substitutes.
1994 J. Marshall John Locke ii. 53 The dissenters' claims that the Church of England was not fully reformed from ‘popery’.
2005 A. Gracie Perfect Rake 54 Who knew, but the writer of those letters might have reformed him of his rakish behavior.
e. intransitive. To change one's conduct or way of life for the better, esp. to relinquish an immoral, self-destructive, or criminal lifestyle.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > reform [verb (intransitive)]
risec1175
amenda1275
menda1400
reform1582
reclaim1625
to turn down a leaf1633
to take up1661
repair1748
mend1782
to go straight1888
to straighten up1891
1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias i. xxi. 54 The Catuall did reforme, and make himselfe friendes with him.
1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §3 We have reformed from them, not against them. View more context for this quotation
1680 H. More Apocalypsis Apocalypseos 356 How necessary it is to reform from the Roman impurities.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. iii. 47 Those, who have gone on for some time in the ways of Vice, and have afterwards reformed.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. xiv. 97 It is possible the young man may in time grow wiser, and reform.
1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. v. 312 He reformed and obtained the rank of Ealdorman.
1927 Daily Express 11 Oct. 3/4 I have known real bad lots suddenly reform, fellows whose conduct sheets ran into three editions.
1992 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 11 Oct. 23/2 Lloyd..is also searching for his teen-age wife, who left him before he reformed.
a. transitive. Falconry. Of a hawk: to rearrange (feathers) with the beak. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. aviv (MED) And sum tyme yowre hawke cowntenansis as she piked hir, and yet she proynith not; and then ye most say, ‘she Reformith hir federis.’
b. transitive. To cut down or back to a desired length; to trim, prune. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [verb (transitive)] > trees: prune or lop
sneda800
shredc1000
crop?c1225
purgec1384
parea1398
shear1398
shridea1425
dodc1440
polla1449
twist1483
top1509
stow1513
lop1519
bough?1523
head?1523
poll-shred1530
prune1547
prime1565
twig1570
reform1574
disbranch1575
shroud1577
snathe1609
detruncate1623
amputate1638
abnodate1656
duba1661
to strip up1664
reprune1666
pollard1670
shrub1682
log1699
switch1811
limb1835
preen1847
to cut back1871
shrig1873
brash1950
summer prune1980
the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > [verb (transitive)] > prune or trim
shear1398
shragc1440
geld?1523
reform1574
shorten1706
1574 R. Scot Perfite Platforme of Hoppe Garden 16 You must pyle them [sc. poales] vp immediatly after they are cut sharped, reformed in length, and smoothed.
1618 W. Lawson New Orchard & Garden i. xi. 36 Snubbe his toppe..with a sharpe knife, and take him cleane away, and so you may vse any Cyon you would reforme.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 625 We must be ris'n, And at our pleasant labour, to reform Yon flourie Arbors. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 89 Shall we doubt..To sow, to set, and to reform their growth? View more context for this quotation
1779 J. Abercrombie Brit. Fruit-gardener 14 Reform with your knife any very irregular-placed branch.
c. transitive. gen. To improve the condition of (a material object). Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > reclaim [verb (transitive)]
ina1387
reclaim1440
improve1523
win1531
mitigate1601
reform1607
stuba1650
regain1652
redeem1671
reduce1726
to bring to1814
to bring in1860
to break in1891
green1967
1607 J. Norden Surueyors Dialogue v. 237 This peece of ground..hath had much labour and great cost bestowed on it, and the ground little or nothing the more reformed.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military organization > organize military affairs [verb (transitive)] > form (troops) into regiment > re-form (regiment)
reform1604
society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > [verb (transitive)] > levy or mobilize > disband
cash1564
cashier1580
disband1591
reform1604
reduce1637
disbandon1640
disembody1762
demobilize1850
immobilize1871
demob1919
1604 E. Grimeston tr. True Hist. Siege Ostend 188 He hath casziered and dismissed aboue 600 men, as well commanders, Captaines and Sargeants, as commissaries and Treasurers..hee hath also reformed the common souldiers [Fr. entre les soldats il a mis tout vn autre ordre].
1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime vii. 71 His regiment being reformed into one company, was giuen to Captaine Rhisby.
1664 S. Pepys Diary 31 Oct. (1971) V. 310 If you must reform two of them, be sure let him command the troop that is left.
1700 S. Wesley Epist. Poetry 9 A thousand trivial Lumber-Thoughts will come, A thousand Fagot-Lines will crowd for room; Reform your Troops , and no Exemption grant, You'll gain in Strength , what you in Numbers want.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) (at cited word) In Military Affairs, to Reform, is to reduce a Body of Men, either disbanding the Whole, and putting the Officers and Soldiers into other Bodies, or only breaking a Part, and retaining the rest.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 51 At the conclusion of the last peace, his regiment being reformed,..he found himself..without a livre.
1855 E. C. Gaskell My French Master in Lizzie Leigh & Other Tales (Cheap ed.) 137 The regiment was to be remodelled or re-formed, I forget which.
11. transitive. To instruct, direct. Obsolete. rare.Only in some 16th-cent. translations of Isaiah 40:12, and references to this passage. [The origin of this sense is unclear. Coverdale did not translate the Bible out of its original languages, and none of his direct sources (e.g. Tyndale, the German translations by Luther and Zwingli, and the Vulgate) appear to use Latin reformāre or a parallel verb in the passage translated. However, compare the translation of Isaiah 40:14 in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible: ‘With whom wente he in counseil, and enformede hym, and lerede hym with kunnyng, and the weie of prudence shewede to hym?’.]
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > action of informing > give (information) [verb (transitive)] > inform (a person)
to teach a person a thingc888
meanOE
wiseOE
sayOE
wittera1225
tellc1225
do to witc1275
let witc1275
let seec1330
inform1384
form1399
lerea1400
to wit (a person) to saya1400
learn1425
advertise1431
givec1449
insense?c1450
instruct1489
ascertain1490
let1490
alighta1500
advert1511
signify1523
reform1535
advise1562
partake1565
resolve1568
to do to ware1594
to let into one's knowledge1596
intellect1599
possess1600
acquainta1616
alighten1615
recommenda1616
intelligence1637
apprise1694
appraise1706
introduce1741
avail1785
prime1791
document1807
to put up1811
to put a person au fait of1828
post1847
to keep (someone) straight1862
monish1866
to put next to1896
to put (one) wise (to)1896
voice1898
in the picture1900
to give (someone) a line on1903
to wise up1905
drum1908
hip1932
to fill (someone) in on1945
clue1948
background1961
to mark a person's card1961
to loop in1994
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Isa. xl. A Who hath refourmed [1539 Great refourmed; 1560 Geneva instructed; 1611 King James directed] the mynde of the Lorde? Or who is of his councel to teach him?
1564 T. Becon New Catech. in Wks. 312 The Prophete Esaye also sayeth, who hath refourmed the Spiryte of the Lorde?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> see also
also refers to : re-formn.1
also refers to : re-formv.2
<
n.2adj.1606
v.11340see also
- french lawn
- french leave
- french leek
- french letter
- french loaf
- french lock
- french lungwort
- french maid
- french mallow
- french manicure
- french marbles
- french marigold
- french master
- french measles
- french mercury
- french merino
- french mole
- french morocco
- french mustard
- french nut
- french oak
- french onion
- french oratory
- french panel
- french paradox