QUALIFY

To make such as is required; to give added or requisite qualities to; to fit, as for a place, office, occupation, or character; to furnish with the knowledge, skill, or other accomplishment necessary for a purpose; to make capable, as of an employment or privilege; to supply with legal power or capacity. He had qualified himself for municipal office by taking the oaths to the sovereigns in possession. Macaulay.

To give individual quality to; to modulate; to vary; to regulate. It hath no larynx . . . to qualify the sound. Sir T. Browne.

To reduce from a general, undefined, or comprehensive form, to particular or restricted form; to modify; to limit; to restrict; to restrain; as, to qualify a statement, claim, or proposition.

Hence, to soften; to abate; to diminish; to assuage; to reduce the strength of, as liquors. I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire, But qualify the fire's extreme rage. Shak.

To soothe; to cure; -- said of persons. [Obs.] In short space he has them qualified. Spenser.

To be or become qualified; to be fit, as for an office or employment.

To obtain legal power or capacity by taking the oath, or complying with the forms required, on assuming an office.