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plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan. He will his firste purpos modify. Chaucer. As my eternal purpose hath decreed. Milton. The flighty purpose never is o'ertook Unless the deed go with it. Shak.

ce 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.

To modify or qualify with respect to quantity; to fix or express the quantity of; to rate.

The act of remodifying; the state of being remodified.

Modifying a speech sound by contraction of the lip opening; labializing; labialization. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 11.

r passage, or pressure of the finger upon the string, of an instrument of music, so as to modify the tone; hence, any contrivance by which the sounds of a musical instrument are regulated. The organ sound a time survives the stop. Daniel.

tter, letters, syllable, or syllables added or appended to the end of a word or a root to modify the meaning; a postfix.

To mingle in due proportion; to prepare by combining; to modify, as by adding some new element; to qualify, as by an ingredient; hence, to soften; to mollify; to assuage; to soothe; to calm. Puritan austerity was so tempered by Dutch indifference, that mercy itself could not have dictated a milder system. Bancroft. Wom…

The act of tempering or modifying; adjustment, as of clashing rules, interests, passions, or the like; also, the means by which such adjustment is effected. Wholesome temperaments of the rashness of popular assemblies. Sir J. Mackintosh.

down. (a) To cause to give lower tone or sound; to give a lower tone to. (b) (Paint.) To modify, as color, by making it less brilliant or less crude; to modify, as a composition of color, by making it more harmonius. Its thousand hues toned down harmoniusly. C. Kingsley.

To modulate or modify with the tongue, as notes, in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.

, appearance, substance, position, or the like; to make different by a partial change; to modify; as, to vary the properties, proportions, or nature of a thing; to vary a posture or an attitude; to vary one's dress or opinions. Shall we vary our device at will, Even as new occasion appears Spenser.