sublimaten.
/ˈsʌblᵻmeɪt/, /ˈsʌblᵻmət/, U.S. /ˈsəbləˌmeɪt/, /ˈsəbləmət/ 1. Chiefly Chemistry and Medicine. More fully sublimate of mercury. Mercuric chloride, a toxic crystalline powder formerly used medicinally, esp. as an antiseptic or disinfectant. Also figurative, and in extended use: poison. Now chiefly historical.Also called corrosive sublimate, mercury sublimate.blue, sweet sublimate, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > poison > [noun] > poisonous chemicals
mercury sublimy?1540
sublimate1543
sublimatum1558
sublimy1558
mercury sublimate1562
corrosive sublimate1664
sweet sublimate1664
supplement1769
Prussian acid1783
oxalic acid1788
prussic acid1788
cyanide1815
cyanuret1827
nitrobenzide1835
nitrobenzol1848
pyridine1851
nitrobenzene1852
isonitrile1871
iso-cyanide1877
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > mercury > [noun] > compounds
sublimate1543
precipitate1563
red mercury1582
quicksilver extinct1610
red precipitate1676
mercury fulminate1904
methylmercury1915
mercurochrome1919
mercurial1971
1543 B. Traheron Interpr. Straunge Wordes in tr. J. de Vigo Most Excellent Wks. Chirurg. sig. BBv Sublimate. Argentum sublimatum is made of Chalcantum, quycksyluer, vynegre, and sal armoniake.
1594 H. Plat Diuerse Sorts of Soyle 10 in Jewell House Suger is a salt, Sublimate is a salt, Saltpeter is a salt.
1605 T. Tymme tr. J. Du Chesne Pract. Chymicall & Hermeticall Physicke i. vii. 26 White sublimate and arsnic..foster and hide a most burning and deadly fire.
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne ii. ii, in Wks. I. 540 Take a little sublimate, and goe out of the world, like a rat. View more context for this quotation
1633 G. Herbert Temple: Sacred Poems 132 Nay he became a poet, and would serve His pills of sublimate in that conserve.
a1661 B. Holyday in tr. Juvenal Satyres (1673) 122 Sublimate makes black the teeth; Cerusse makes gray the hair.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Aqua Mercurialis, a preparation of Aqua-regia, and sublimate of mercury, with a little mercury, placed in a sand heat, till the solution of the mercury be made.
1772 W. Buchan Domest. Med. (ed. 2) xlvii. 636 The sublimate may likewise be given in form of pills.
1843 G. Borrow Bible in Spain I. xvi. 344 I have more than once escaped..having the wine I drank spiced with sublimate.
1896 tr. Huysmans' En Route iii. 37 To cleanse it with the disinfectant of prayer and the sublimate of Sacraments.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 605 A tar bath, with 15 gr. of sublimate added.
1938 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 5 Nov. 966/2 A precipitation of the globulin fraction of the serum by a complex mercury salt (formed by mixing sublimate of mercury with sodium carbonate).
1995 O. Lee First Intermissions xviii. 195 Doria killed herself—quietly, swallowing three tablets of sublimate.
2007 U. Klein & W. Lefèvre Materials Eighteenth-century Sci. viii. 144 (caption) ‘Spiritus fumans Libavii’ (tin(IV) chloride), a smoky liquid, was also distilled from a mixture of tin with sublimate.
2. Chemistry.
a. A substance produced by sublimation; a solid, typically crystalline deposit of a substance which has sublimed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical reactions or processes (named) > sublimation > solid product of
alcohol1543
sublimatea1626
sublimation1646
flores1663
mascagnite1868
a1626 F. Bacon Art. Enq. Metals in Sylva (1664) 226 To enquire..what Metals indure subliming; And what Body the Sublimate makes?
1694 W. Salmon Pharmacopœia Bateana i. ix. 452/1 In the other part of the neck you will have a kind of grey Sublimate.
1726 Dict. Rusticum (ed. 3) Sublimate of Arsenick, is Arsenick corrected or freed from its more malignant Sulphurs, and rais'd to the top of the Matrass by the force of Fire.
1778 W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis 34 The sublimate of our white Mundick..may produce..some of the best white Arsenick.
1866 H. E. Roscoe Lessons Elem. Chem. xxiii. 201 The anhydrous chromic chloride is obtained as a sublimate, in beautiful violet crystals.
1894 Times 15 Aug. 12/2 The walls are nearly all covered by sublimates or dust that has adhered and crusted them over.
1907 G. M. Norman Systematic Pract. Org. Chem. ii. v. 65 Heated with strong sulphuric acid, benzoates do not char, but the characteristic odour of benzoic acid is given off, and a sublimate of the acid is formed on the cold part of the tube.
1984 N. N. Greenwood & A. Earnshaw Chem. of Elements (1986) x. 445 GeO is obtained as a yellow sublimate when powdered Ge and GeO2 are heated to 1000°C.
2001 S. E. Manahan Fund. Environmental Chem. (ed. 2) xvii. 579 These kinds of substances condense near the mouths of volcanic fumaroles and are called sublimates. Elemental sulfur is a common sublimate.
b. spec. In chemical analysis: a solid deposit formed on charcoal, glass, etc., when a mineral or other substance is heated with a blowpipe. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical processes (general) > that which remains after
residence1555
residue1586
manna1694
sublimate1822
1822 J. G. Children tr. J. J. Berzelius Use of Blowpipe in Chem. Anal. 188 In the open tube, gives off sulphurous acid, without any trace of sublimate [Fr. sublimé]. On charcoal, in the exterior flame, becomes red.
1842 E. A. Parnell Elements Chem. Anal. (1845) 262 Metals. Produce a sublimate on charcoal—antimony; arsenic... Give no sublimate on charcoal—mercury; osmium.
1880 Sci. Amer. 8 May 297/3 Mispickel, heated by blowpipe flame, yields a red sublimate of bisulphuret of arsenic, and also metallic arsenic.
1923 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1922 74 101 Keeleyite..gives the same reactions before the blowpipe, etc., as the other lead sulfantimonites. A white sublimate of antimony oxide is obtained by heating in the closed tube.
1998 C. S. Hurlbut & W. E. Sharp Dana's Minerals (ed. 4) v. 110 In the test for molybdenum, a plaster tablet is preferable to charcoal, for its dark sublimate is better displayed on the white background.
3. figurative. A refined or concentrated product; the essence or distillation of something.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > essence or intrinsic nature > [noun] > quintessence
quintessence1579
essence1582
fifth-essence1584
elixir1638
distillation1650
sublimate1657
alcohol1830
quintessential1899
1657 C. Gilbert Libertine School'd 19 What could not be done by Seekers, Levellers, Arminians and Ranters, shall be now better carried on by Quakers, the sublimat of them all.
1683 J. Norris Idea of Happiness 24 Some have..grown mad with the Sublimate of Pleasure.
1776 G. Campbell Philos. of Rhetoric I. i. vii. 205 This is..the very sublimate of science.
1787 European Mag. & London Rev. Feb. 84/2 His publication..is the sublimate of superstition, emptiness, and nonsense.
1872 H. P. Liddon Some Elements Relig. iii. 92 Man's soul is not a third nature, poised between his spirit and his body; nor yet is it a sublimate of his bodily organization.
1912 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 22 157 That illumined insight, which is the bloom and sublimate of all our faculties.
1985 G. H. Hartman Easy Pieces ii. 131 Whether that will is the will to knowledge itself, or a sublimate of the desire for carnal knowledge, is less important than [etc.].
2002 R. Halpern Shakespeare's Perfume i. 21 Shakespearean homosexuality is the aesthetic sublimate of sodomy.
Compounds
attributive with the sense ‘containing mercuric chloride’ (see sense 1), esp. in the names of (former) medicinal preparations, as sublimate bath, sublimate lotion, sublimate solution, etc. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > [adjective] > other miscellaneous treatments
sublimate1585
heroical1769
Perkinean1798
Perkinistic1803
heroic1818
adjuvant1834
aggressive1837
calmative1871
bacteriotherapeutic1886
mechanotherapeutic1915
inhalational1944
non-invasive1968
invasive1972
vegetablized1974
multidisciplinarian1985
1585 J. Banister Wecker's Compend. Chyrurg. iii. xxv. 491 Heere likewise maye you haue vse of the sublimate Water.
1664 J. S. Παιδων Νοσηματα ii. x. 127 It is better to use remedies in such a form as cannot go further then the Palat; as when the Ulcers of the mouth are touch'd with the Oyle of Sulphur or Sublimate water, which is an excellent remedy against all inveterate Ulcers.
1698 J. Pechey Compl. Midwife's Pract. (ed. 5) 189 If it come to Section, it may be done either with a Horse-hair, or a silken thread wound about it, being first dipt in Sublimat water; or else with a Knife.
1717 D. Turner Syphilis 171 For which end, I directed a little Vial of a Sublimate Lotion.
1796 G. Wallis Art Preventing Dis. (ed. 2) 680 Some prefer the sublimate pills..under the idea of their being more easily and safely taken.
1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxvii. 339 During the year 1827 the venereal patients took..302 sublimate baths.
1895 Catal. Surg. Instruments (Arnold & Sons) 726 Sublimate Gauze.
1929 Lancet 9 Nov. 974/1 As an introduction to the treatment in pemphigus give sublimate baths.
1948 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 24 Apr. 811/1 His work would also explain the efficacy of treatment by powerful fungicides such as the strong sublimate lotion..advocated by Dr. C. J. Wilson.
2008 Gen. & Compar. Endocrinol. 155 404/2 The dissected brain and the attached pituitary were immersed in Bouin-Hollande sublimate solution.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
sublimateadj.
/ˈsʌblᵻmeɪt/, U.S. /ˈsəbləˌmeɪt/ 1. Raised to a high degree of excellence; elevated in rank, character, or estimation; exalted. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > majesty, glory, or grandeur > [adjective]
higheOE
drightlikeOE
highlyOE
drightfula1225
prouda1275
principalc1385
solemna1387
gentlec1390
high and mighty1400
imperial?c1400
royalc1405
kinglyc1425
sublimatec1425
lordfulc1429
lordlyc1440
assumpt1447
raiseda1450
haught1470
kinglikec1485
lordlike1488
triumphant1494
greatlya1500
princely?a1510
supereminent1531
princelike1532
lofta1547
lofty1548
regal1561
supernal1562
haughty1563
excelse1569
queen-like?1571
majestical1578
erecteda1586
augustious1591
ennobled1592
imperious1592
enthronized1593
august1594
high-born1598
sublimed1602
jovial1604
majestic1606
enthroned1609
starred1615
exalted1623
majestuous1633
reared1638
sublimary1655
majestative1656
kingrik1663
superb1663
grand1673
celse1708
stilted1744
canonized1790
queenly1791
apotheosized1794
princified1857
c1425 Bk. Found. St. Bartholomew's (1923) 17 (MED) This holy chirche..Fowndyd and endewid with heuenly Answer, I-sublymate with many priuylegies of notable men.
a1464 J. Capgrave Abbreuiacion of Cron. (Cambr. Gg.4.12) (1983) 74 This man, with sedicious knytis, was sublimat in þe empire.
1492 J. Ryman Poems vi, in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1892) 89 175 O spowse of Criste inmaculate, Aboue alle aungellis sublimate.
1603 S. Harsnett Declar. Popish Impostures 111 According as they are improued, sublimate, and aduaunced by the authority of holy church of Rome.
1612 J. Selden in M. Drayton Poly-olbion i. Illustr. 15 Some of them were sublimat farre aboue earthly conceit.
1646 J. Saltmarsh Some Drops of Viall ii. 95 This is Perfection and Prelacy sublimate.
a1737 M. Green Spleen (1738) 61 Truth sublimate may here be seen Extracted from the parts terrene.
2. Sublimated, distilled. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [adjective] > of or relating to named chemical reactions or processes > having undergone or produced by sublimation
sublimeda1400
sublimated1559
sublimate1591
1591 R. Rabbards in Ripley's Compound of Alchymy sig. E Thy water must be seauen times sublimate, Else shall no kindly Dissolution bee.
II. attributive and as postmodifier.
3. Refined, purified; perfect; sublime. Cf. sublimated adj. 2a. Now rare.In quots. 1790, a1849 in ironic use: cf. sublime adj. 5b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > [adjective] > having impurities removed
sublimeda1400
clarifiedc1430
depured?1504
well-refined1575
refined1584
sublimate1591
winnowed1609
depurated1651
depurate1657
sublimateda1676
freshened1728
epurated1815
sublimized1827
society > morality > virtue > purity > [adjective] > relating to moral purification > morally purified
skere?c1225
defecate?a1505
sublimate1591
refined1596
defecated1611
cleansed1621
expiated1840
1591 G. B. A. F. tr. Discouery Subtiltie & Wisedome Italians ix. 12 They haue a spirite more sublimate and ingenious, then any other nation that liueth vnder the scope of the heauens.
1607 R. C. in tr. H. Estienne World of Wonders Ep. Ded. i. sig. ¶3v Others (of a more refined and sublimate temper) can sauour nothing but that which exceeds the vulgar capacitie.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 366 Offering her selfe more sublimate and pure, in the sacred name..of Religion.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing 124 The corporeal Machine, which even on the most sublimate Intellectuals is dangerously influential.
1720 R. Welton tr. T. Alvares de Andrade Sufferings Son of God I. x. 231 A Love Sublimate and Refined.
1790 Analyt. Rev. Apr. 446 We behold the sublimate nonsense of metaphysics blended with the mysteries of religion.
a1849 T. L. Beddoes Death's Jest-bk. (1850) i. i. 3 Wilt thou desert our brotherhood, fool sublimate?
1989 V. J. Camden Compromise Formations Introd. p. xix Psychoanalysis is the sublimate science of the mind.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
sublimatev.
/ˈsʌblᵻmeɪt/, U.S. /ˈsəbləˌmeɪt/ I. Senses relating to the physical process of sublimation.† 1. intransitive. Chemistry. To undergo distillation. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1500 ( G. Ripley Compend of Alchemy (Ashm.) 647 Thyne water muste 7 sythes sublymate, ells schall noon kyndly solucion wyll be.
2.
a. transitive and intransitive. Chemistry = sublime v. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > undergo chemical reactions or processes [verb (intransitive)] > undergo chemical reactions or processes (named) > undergo sublimation
sublimea1500
sublimate1559
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > subject to chemical reactions or processes [verb (transitive)] > subject to named chemical reaction or process > subject to sublimation
sublimea1400
sublimate1559
elevate1607
subtilize1611
extol1657
sublevate1657
alcoholize1670
1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus Pref. sig. A.iii The way to sublimate & destil, as they term it, hath had his original of the Chimists.
1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies xii. 93 Elevate that tripode; sublimate that pipkin; Elixate your antimonie.
1651 R. Wittie tr. J. Primrose Pop. Errours iv. iii. 221 Honey thrice sublimated.
1770 G. Smith tr. Laboratory (ed. 5) ii. 57 When the matter is well sublimated, take off the mattrass, and let it cool.
1819 tr. F. Swediaur Comprehensive Treat. Venereal Dis. II. xix. 316 This triple salt is prepared by triturating and sublimating the mercury with what remains in the retort.
1892 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry 31 Mar. 253/1 These Chinese vermilions were prepared by sublimating the sulphur and mercury together, and then one got the red sublimate on the top of the crucible.
1905 Spatula June 545/1 Among the by-products may be mentioned..white oil, obtained by sublimating the crude oil.
1991 E. S. Connell Alchymist's Jrnl. (1992) 8 Puffers that coagulate, sublimate and distil—tending bubbling apparatus toward what!
1993 Computer Reseller News (Nexis) 5 Apr. 151 The printers create images by sublimating the dye, turning it from a solid into a gas, which is then absorbed by the paper.
2004 R. E. Johnson et al. in F. Bagenal et al. Jupiter xx. 501 (caption) Heating (related to ridge emplacement) can darken the margins by sublimating ice and leaving a sulfurous lag deposit.
b. transitive. gen. To act on (a substance) so as to produce a refined product. Also with into. Chiefly (and now only) in figurative context. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > remove impurities from [verb (transitive)]
mereeOE
spurge1303
fine1340
sendre1340
purea1350
purgec1350
purifya1398
depurea1400
clarifyc1430
expurge1483
defecatec1487
subtiliate1551
refine?1572
neatify1581
distil1599
sublimate1601
sweeten1601
depurate1620
infresh1635
lustre1645
lustrate1653
freshen1710
chasten1715
epurate1799
enchastena1806
dispollute1862
1601 R. Dolman tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. III. 401 A maruellous kinde of naturall chimistrie..so to sublimate that which of it selfe is poison.
1638 T. Jackson Treat. Consecration Sonne of God ix. xxiv. 169 None..would accuse an Alchimist..for wasting..copper, lead, or brasse, if hee could..sublimate them into pure gold.
1660 A. Brett Threnodia 12 Tis chymick heat in's bloud doth swim, T'wil sublimate terrestr'al him And so make of a Duke a Cherubim.
1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Sensus Communis: Ess. Freedom of Wit 100 The original plain Principles of Humanity..have, by a sort of spiritual Chymists, been so sublimated, as to become the highest Corrosives.
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados 32 The heat of the Sun..is so intense..that it sublimates their juices, salts, and spirits to a far greater degree of perfection.
1779 S. Johnson Milton in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets II. 186 The heat of Milton's mind might be said to sublimate his learning.
1836 Yale Lit. Mag. Oct. 34 The first notion, afterwards sublimated by the alchemy of his genius into a noble theory, and by the alchemy of his workshop again precipitated into a pot of blacking.
1967 ELH 34 238 The gross matter to be refined—sublimated—by the chemical magic of Dickens' technique into symbolic art.
c. transitive. To extract by or as by sublimation. Frequently with out of. Chiefly (and now only) figurative and in figurative context. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > subject to chemical reactions or processes [verb (transitive)] > subject to named chemical reaction or process > subject to sublimation > specific extract by sublimation
sublimea1475
sublimate1614
1614 T. Adams Diuells Banket vi. 315 You that haue put so faire for the Philosophers stone, that you haue endeuoured to sublimate it out of poore mens bones, ground to powder by your oppressions.
1644 J. Milton Areopagitica 9 It will be a harder alchymy then Lullius ever knew, to sublimat any good use out of such an invention.
1845 G. Bush Anastasis (ed. 2) i. iii. 83 The spiritual body may be in some way sublimated out of the remains of the material, so that it may still be properly said to be the same, just as ice, water, and steam may be said to be substantially the same element.
1958 Bull. Atomic Scientists Oct. 317/1 This capacity of the mind to disregard the variation of the sense impressions and to sublimate out of them something constant and invariant appears to me the most impressive of our spiritual endowments.
3. Chemistry.
a. transitive (in passive). To be deposited as a sublimate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > undergo chemical reactions or processes [verb (intransitive)] > undergo chemical reactions or processes (named) > undergo sublimation > be produced as a result of
sublimate1651
sublimate1662
1651 J. French tr. J. R. Glauber Of Minerall Work in tr. J. R. Glauber Descr. New Philos. Furnaces 446 All the tin almost flying away will at the bottome be burnt, and separated like ashes, being sublimated on the top of the lead.
1682 J. Collins Salt & Fishery 127 This Salt was formerly found sublimated upon the superficies of the burnt Sands of that Country.
1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. I. 429 Towards the end of the operation, a little sulphur is sublimated.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 884 The chief part of this [sc. morphia] is literally burned and not sublimated at all.
1910 Garden Mag. Feb. 4- b/3 The camphor tree..is broken up and treated with water in closed vessels, the volatilized camphor being sublimated on rice straw.
1998 Adv. Cryogenic Engin. 43 623 Nitrogen gas could also be condensed or sublimated on cryosurfaces if surface temperature is at liquid helium temperature.
b. intransitive. To be subjected to or undergo sublimation; to be deposited by sublimation; to be transformed into (a solid form) by sublimation. Formerly also †transitive (reflexive). Cf. sublime v. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > undergo chemical reactions or processes [verb (intransitive)] > undergo chemical reactions or processes (named) > undergo sublimation > be produced as a result of
sublimate1651
sublimate1662
1662 P. D. C. tr. N. Le Fèvre Compend. Body Chymistry I. 65 If indeed Armoniack Salt be put alone in a Crucible, it will not melt, but sublimate.
1662 P. D. C. tr. N. Le Fèvre Compend. Body Chymistry I. v. 65 Armoniack doth never melt in the fire, but rather ascends and sublimates it self.
1676 W. Harris tr. N. de Blégny New & Curious Observ. Venereal Dis. ii. v. 113 The Mercury [will] remain at bottom in form of Salt, or else continuing the Fire, it sublimates to the middle of the Vessel.
1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory viii. 216 The Phosphorus, who in the Receiver has sublimated of a yellowish Colour.
1744 E. R. Seehl New Improvem. Art of making Sulphur 16 True Sulphur..when melted, sublimates into a dry Powder, which we call Flower.
1898 V. C. Vaughan in T. L. Stedman 20th Cent. Pract. XIII. 115 This base can be heated to 150° C. without decomposition, but above this temperature it sublimates and partially decomposes.
1949 J. S. Joffe ABC of Soils iv. 39 Some of the snow sublimates during the periods of low temperatures.
1980 D. Terman Free Flight (1981) i. 27 He turned once more to the north..watching the contrail sublimate until it was finally gone.
2005 R. J. Sawyer Mindscan xxxi. 227 The monohydrazine will sublimate into a cloud of explosive vapor, and I'll fire the main engine, igniting that cloud.
4. transitive. To refine to the point of meaninglessness or non-existence; to reduce to unreality. Chiefly with into.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > make real [verb (transitive)] > deprive of reality
unrealize1755
sublimate1831
derealize1889
disrealize1889
1831 Athenaeum 16 July 457/2 He does not deal with things, but thoughts, and thoughts that are often sublimated into phantoms.
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xxiii. 79 The materialist may now derive the subject from the object, the idealist derive the object from the subject, the absolutist sublimate both into indifference.
1867 Morning Star 29 Jan. We are too much given to sublimate official responsibility until it becomes impalpable to ordinary senses.
1910 W. S. Palmer Diary Modernist 264 A spiritual body is for him sublimated out of reality.
2003 R. MacFarlane Mountains of Mind (2004) v. 158 His poetry sublimates itself into gaseousness, spirals exultantly up into nothing.
II. Extended uses.
5. transitive. To elevate (a person) to a high or higher position, status, or dignity; to raise in esteem or social distinction. Also figurative. Cf. sublime v. 6.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > majesty, glory, or grandeur > exaltation or glorification > exalt or glorify [verb (transitive)]
heavec825
higheOE
brightenOE
clarifya1340
glorifya1340
enhancec1374
stellifyc1384
biga1400
exalt?a1400
raisea1400
shrinea1400
to bear up?a1425
enhighc1440
erect?a1475
assumec1503
amount1523
dignifya1530
to set up1535
extol1545
enthronize1547
augment1567
sublimate?1567
sublime1568
assumptc1571
begoda1576
royalize1589
suscitate1598
swell1601
consecrate1605
realize1611
reara1616
sphere1615
ingreata1620
superexalta1626
soara1627
ascend1628
rise1628
embroider1629
apotheose1632
grandize1640
engreaten1641
engrandizea1652
mount1651
intronificate1653
magnificent1656
superposit1661
grandify1665
heroify1677
apotheosize1695
enthrone1699
aggrandize1702
pantheonize1801
hoist1814
princify1847
queen1880
heroize1887
?1567 Merie Tales Master Skelton sig. Bii He that doth humble hym selfe..shalbe exalted, extoulled,..or sublimated.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 868 Felix was..sublimated with an Episcopall Mitre.
1637 J. Bastwick Letany i. 17/2 Sometime, forty at once or more: are mounted and sublimated into the high Commission Court.
1685 J. Scott Christian Life: Pt. II I. i. 91 We only exalt and sublimate Impiety, which never looks so Glorious as when 'tis Gilded with Fasts and long Prayers.
a1739 C. Jarvis tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote (1749) I. iv. xix. 393 Thou shalt see thyself so exalted and sublimated, that thou shalt not know thyself.
1866 B. Cornwall C. Lamb ii. 37 The mode or style of his education, sublimated him beyond the heights of the laboring classes.
1870 J. R. D. Beste Nowadays xxxii. 350 The spirit of flunkeyism makes them try to make believe that they are thus sublimated.
1903 Bankers' Mag. Oct. 588 Shall we not..emphatically declare what the American business man really is? I do not mean to sublimate him.
2008 J. Jagodzinski Television & Youth Culture viii. 136 Antigone becomes a numinous object by being sublimated and raised to the dignity of das Ding for the deed that she does.
6. transitive. To raise to a high or higher state; to elevate to a higher degree of excellence or purity; to refine. Also ironic. Cf. sublime v. 5a(b). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > majesty, glory, or grandeur > exaltation or glorification > exalt or glorify [verb (transitive)] > impart nobility to
noblec1380
transfigurec1380
nobley?a1439
noblish1483
ennoble1502
gentle1532
nobilitate1542
ennoblize1598
ennoblishc1600
sublimate1601
greaten1627
exalt1711
annoblize1731
1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love i. iii. sig. C Knowing my selfe an Essence so sublimated, and refin'de by Trauaile. View more context for this quotation
1673 R. Allestree Ladies Calling i. 32 This is it which sublimates and spiritualizes humanity.
1682 London Gaz. No. 1711/4 Sedition and Rebellion, sublimated to the heighth, and as the very Extract of Disorder and Anarchy.
1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality I. Ep. Ded. p. v The muck that Dedicators are obliged to pass through,..in order to cull select, and sublimate an offering fit to lay upon the altar of adulation.
1781 W. Hayley Triumphs of Temper v. 288 Here grief and joy so suddenly unite, That anguish serves to sublimate delight.
1822 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 19 Jan. 168 The unnatural working of the paper-system has sublimated him out of his senses.
1869 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. European Morals II. 295 Moral ideas in a thousand forms have been sublimated, enlarged and changed.
1911 M. Beerbohm Zuleika Dobson 272 Sublimate the dignity of that bearing and of those features, and you will then have seen the fourteenth Duke.
7.
a. transitive. To transform into something higher, nobler, or more refined. Chiefly with into. Cf. sublime v. 7b.Now sometimes influenced by or as an extended use of sense 8a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > improvement > [verb (transitive)] > purify or refine
slick1340
filec1400
polishc1400
burnish1526
polite1535
extirpate1548
purify1548
soften1579
purgea1582
refine1592
mellow1593
civilize1596
rarefy1600
incivilize1603
sublimate1624
alembicate1627
chastise1627
sublime1631
calcine1635
gentilize1635
ennoble1636
subtilize1638
deconcoct1655
sublimizea1729
smooth1762
absterge1817
decrassify1855
sandpaper1890
1624 T. Scott Vox Regis To Rdr. p. iv It expresseth strength to haue words sublimated into works.
a1672 P. Sterry Appearance of God to Man in Gospel (1710) 275 Holiness exalts and sublimates a Man into Spirit.
a1708 W. Beveridge Private Thoughts Relig. (1709) 295 By sublimating Good Thoughts into Good Affections.
1798 T. R. Malthus Ess. Princ. Population xviii. 353 To sublimate the dust of the earth into soul; to elicit an æthereal spark from the clod of clay.
1858 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (ed. 2) IV. xviii. 59 Their understandings were too direct to sublimate absurdities into mysteries.
1884 Contemp. Rev. Feb. 262 Sublimating into an ideal sentiment what..had been little more than an animal appetite.
1925 C. Connolly Let. 8 July in Romantic Friendship (1975) 97 I am getting very fond of Bath, which I have sublimated into mediaeval Florence.
1989 R. Alter Pleasures of Reading vii. 229 Suffering and despair are, in the sense of the term that antedates Freud, sublimated by their transformation into cadence and image and significant pattern.
2003 New Republic (Nexis) 3 Nov. 32 We are allowed to think that the Dirty Harry and Western pistolings are exalted, sublimated, by these bronzings of violence.
b. intransitive. To become transformed into something higher or more refined; = sublime v. 7a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > improvement > [verb (intransitive)] > become purified or refined
sublime1624
polish1712
mellow1737
bleach1799
purify1805
sublimate1850
1850 D. M. Craik Olive III. xiv. 279 Thinking of him now, her whole world seemed to change and sublimate into content.
1852 G. Brimley Ess. (1858) vi. 266 If Miss Rebecca Sharpe had really been..a matchless beauty,..she might have sublimated into a Beatrix Esmond.
1879 E. P. W. Packard Great Drama II. 42 Christ's will sublimates into God's divine will.
1922 D. H. Lawrence Fantasia of Unconscious vii. 111 There are few, few people in whom the living impulse and reaction develops and sublimates into mental consciousness.
1992 D. W. Palmer Hospitable Performances v. 158 Moments of discrete hospitality sublimate into grand gestures of loving care.
8. Psychoanalysis (chiefly in Freudian theory).
a. transitive. To divert or modify (an instinctual impulse, esp. a sexual one) into a socially more acceptable interest or activity. Frequently with into. Cf. sublimation n. 5a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > libido > sublimation of libido > sublimate [verb (transitive)]
sublimate1896
sublimate1914
1896 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 7 302 The instinctive underly of the females causes wooing and obstructs the discharge of the sex passion and sublimates it.
1910 J. J. Putnam in A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Three Contrib. Sexual Theory p. vii The instincts with which every child is born..may be refined (‘sublimated’)..into energies of other sorts.
1916 C. E. Long tr. C. G. Jung Coll. Papers Analyt. Psychol. 141 Here we are confronted by an energetic effort to sublimate the fear into an eager desire for knowledge.
1967 M. L. King Trumpet of Conscience iv. 69 This rare opportunity for bloodletting was sublimated into arson.
2004 New Statesman 6 Sept. 49/1 Suffering from occasional mildly concupiscent impulses which, swiftly sublimated, did not drive him to distraction.
b. intransitive. To divert or modify an instinctual impulse, esp. a sexual one, into a socially more acceptable interest or activity; to employ sublimation.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > libido > sublimation of libido > sublimate [verb (transitive)]
sublimate1896
sublimate1914
1914 Trans. Nerv. & Mental Dis. 218 Up to the present the psycho-analytic movement has been mostly description, analysis, interpretation, with very little said about what to do, how to synthesize, when to sublimate, and who should do all this.
1933 J. Jastrow House that Freud Built vi. 136 We sublimate as we grow in psychic stature.
1973 H. McLeave Question of Negligence xxiii. 183 Some boy jilted her..thirty years ago. Now she sublimates like mad and expends all her pent-up emotion on her patients.
1992 Harrowsmith Aug. 32/3 If your natural behaviours are frustrated, sublimate.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1543
adj.c1425
v.a1500- to have hollow legs
- to have homage
- to have hot pants
- to have hot pants for a person
- to have i-wald
- to have ideas
- to have in a hate
- to have in a person's governing
- to have in a string
- to have in abomination
- to have in chertee
- to have in common
- to have in contempt
- to have in custom
- to have in deliciis
- to have in disdain
- to have in estimation
- to have in etc reputation
- to have in etc reverence
- to have in excusation
- to have in farm
- to have in fearing
- to have in fee
- to have in gaze
- to have in governance