Search the Dictionary

Refreshing; restoring.

To fit or prepare for use again; to repair; to restore after damage or decay; as, to refit a garment; to refit ships of war. Macaulay.

Restoration of strength by refreshment. [Obs.] Middleton.

To put into a new and improved form or condition; to restore to a former good state, or bring from bad to good; to change from worse to better; to amend; to correct; as, to reform a profligate man; to reform corrupt manners or morals. The example alone of a vicious prince will corrupt an age; but that of a good one wil…

Corrected; amended; restored to purity or excellence; said, specifically, of the whole body of Protestant churches originating in the Reformation. Also, in a more restricted sense, of those who separated from Luther on the doctrine of consubstantiation, etc., and carried the Reformation, as they claimed, to a higher po…

To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to curb; to govern. His reson refraineth not his foul delight or talent. Chaucer. Refrain thy foot from their path. Prov. i. 15.

To make fresh again; to restore strength, spirit, animation, or the like, to; to relieve from fatigue or depression; to reinvigorate; to enliven anew; to reanimate; as, sleep refreshes the body and the mind. Chaucer. Foer they have refreshed my spirit and yours. 1 Cor. xvi. 18. And labor shall refresh itself with hope.…

The act of refreshing, or the state of being refreshed; restoration of strength, spirit, vigor, or liveliness; relief after suffering; new life or animation after depression.

To give back; to repay; to restore. A governor, that had pillaged the people, was . . . sentenced to refund what he had wrongfully taken. L'Estrange.

Restoration. "This doctrine of the refusion of the soul." Bp. Warbuton.

he male has the head, neck, and large patches on the wings, bright golden yellow, and the rest of the plumage deep velvety black; -- so called in honor of the Prince of Wales (afterward George IV.), who was Prince Regent in the reign of George III. -- The Regents of the University of the State of New York, the members…

To adjust by rule, method, or established mode; to direct by rule or restriction; to subject to governing principles or laws. The laws which regulate the successions of the seasons. Macaulay. The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes, and regulated their own police. Bancroft.

To invest or clothe again with some right, authority, or dignity; to restore to a former capacity; to reinstate; to qualify again; to restore, as a delinquent, to a former right, rank, or privilege lost or forfeited; -- a term of civil and canon law. Restoring and rehabilitating the party. Burke.

, as an equivalent for what has been taken, lost, or expended; to refund; to pay back; to restore; as, to reimburse the expenses of a war.

Hence, an instrument or means of curbing, restraining, or governing; government; restraint. "Let their eyes rove without rein." Milton. To give rein, To give the rein to, to give license to; to leave withouut restrain. -- To take the reins, to take the guidance or government; to assume control.

Not having, or not governed by, reins; hence, not checked or restrained.

To place again in possession, or in a former state; to restore to a state from which one had been removed; to instate again; as, to reinstate a king in the possession of the kingdom. For the just we have said already thet some of them were reinstated in their pristine happiness and felicity. Glanvill.…

To renew with regard to any state or quality; to restore; to bring again together into a whole, as the parts off anything; to reas, to reintegrate a nation. Bacon.

To bring back; to restore. [Obs.] Abate your zealous haste, till morrow next again Both light of heaven and strength of men relate. Spenser.

To let loose again; to set free from restraint, confinement, or servitude; to give liberty to, or to set at liberty; to let go. Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. Mark xv. 6.