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o make or set right; to correct from a wrong, erroneous, or false state; to amend; as, to rectify errors, mistakes, or abuses; to rectify the will, the judgment, opinions; to rectify disorders. I meant to rectify my conscience. Shak. This was an error of opinion which a conflicting opinion would have rectified. Burke.…

To correct. [Obs.] When your worship's plassed to correctify a lady. Beau & Fl.

The act rectifying spirit.

To convert into alcohol; to rectify; also, to saturate with alcohol.

by substituting something else in the place of what is removed; to rectify. Mar not the thing that can not be amended. Shak. An instant emergency, granting no possibility for revision, or opening for amended thought. De Quincey. We shall cheer her sorrows, and amend her blood, by wedding her to a Norman. Sir W. Scott.…

tion, or note, or a part to be excluded from a sentence, to indicate an interpolation, to rectify a mistake, or to supply an omission, and for certain other purposes; -- called also crotchet.

ascertain the caliber of, as of a thermometer tube; also, more generally, to determine or rectify the graduation of, as of the various standards or graduated instruments.

clear; to free from obscurities; to brighten or illuminate. To clarify his reason, and to rectify his will. South.

bs.] If we confer these observations with others of the like nature, we may find cause to rectify the general opinion. Boyle.

An officer appointed to keep a counter register of accounts, or to examine, rectify, or verify accounts. [More commonly written controller.]

To make right; to bring to the standard of truth, justice, or propriety; to rectify; as, to correct manners or principles. This is a defect in the first make of same men's minds which can scarce ever be corrected afterwards. T. Burnet.

The act of reproving or punishing, or that which is intended to rectify or to cure faults; punishment; discipline; chastisement. Correction and instruction must both work Ere this rude beast will profit. Shak.

Having the power to correct; tending to rectify; as, corrective penalties. Mulberries are pectoral, corrective of billious alkali. Arbuthnot.

of superabundant water, as by evaporation or distillation; to clear of aqueous matter; to rectify; -- used of spirits and acids.

o obtain by distillation; to extract by distillation, as spirits, essential oil, etc.; to rectify; as, to distill brandy from wine; to distill alcoholic spirits from grain; to distill essential oils from flowers, etc.; to distill fresh water from sea water. "Distilling odors on me." Tennyson.

sioned officer posted in the rear of a line, or on the flank of a column, of soldiers, to rectify mistakes and insure steadiness and promptness in the ranks.

Goggles intended to rectify strabismus by permitting vision only directly in front. Knight.

The act or operation of rectifying; as, the rectification of an error; the rectification of spirits. After the rectification of his views, he was incapable of compromise with profounder shapes of error. De Quincey.

Specifically: (a) (Naut.) An instrument used for determining and rectifying the variations of the compass on board ship. (b) (Chem.) A rectificator.