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To alter for the better; to set right; to reform; hence, to quicken; as, to mend one's manners or pace. The best service they could do the state was to mend the lives of the persons who composed it. Sir W. Temple.

applicable name or title. Many of the changes, by a great misnomer, called parliamentary "reforms". Burke. The word "synonym" is fact a misnomer. Whatel

Limited in scope or effects; as, a reformation of a moderate kind. Hooker.

A conveyance of property, upon condition, as security for the payment of a debt or the preformance of a duty, and to become void upon payment or performance according to the stipulated terms; also, the written instrument by which the conveyance is made.

Used for punishment, discipline, and reformation. "Penitentiary houses." Blackstone.

One of a class of religious reformers in Germany in the 17th century who sought to revive declining piety in the Protestant churches; -- often applied as a term of reproach to those who make a display of religious feeling. Also used adjectively.

erness, preparing the way for others to follow; as, pioneers of civilization; pioneers of reform.

register; to enroll, esp. for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one. Polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms. Milton.

A voter in certain boroughs of England, where, before the passage of the reform bill of 1832, the qualification for suffrage was to have boiled (walloped) his own pot in the parish for six months.

validity of ordination and government by presbyters; a member of the Presbyterian church. Reformed Presbyterians. See Cameronian.

ent from, a decree of the Emperor Charles V. and the Diet of Spires, in 1529, against the Reformers, and appealed to a general council; -- now used in a popular sense to designate any Christian who does not belong to the Roman Catholic or the Greek Church.

prune an essay. Thackeray. Taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed. Bacon. Our delightful task To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers. Milton.

stice on a convicted offender as a just retribution, and incidentally for the purposes of reformation and prevention.

n assault or attack; an effort; an attempt; hence, the time or occasion for action. Exact reformation is not perfected at the first push. Milton. hen it comes to the push, tic no more than talk. L' Estrange.

ke: original; fundamental; thorough-going; unsparing; extreme; as, radical evils; radical reform; a radical party. The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence. Burke.

eing radical; specifically, the doctrines or principles of radicals in politics or social reform. Radicalism means root work; the uprooting of all falsehoods and abuses. F. W. Robertson.

The act of forming anew; a second forming in order; as, the reformation of a column of troops into a hollow square.

Backward tendency or movement after revolution, reform, or great progress in any direction. The new king had, at the very moment at which his fame and fortune reached the highest point, predicted the coming reaction. Macaulay. Reaction time (Physiol.), in nerve physiology, the interval between the application of a stim…

oral wandering or transgression; to draw back to correct deportment or course of life; to reform. It is the intention of Providence, in all the various expressions of his goodness, to reclaim mankind. Rogers.

The act of redressing; a making right; reformation; correction; amendment. [R.] Reformation of evil laws is commendable, but for us the more necessary is a speedy redress of ourselves. Hooker.