[f. L. acūmināt- ppl. stem of acūminā-re; see prec.]
1. trans. To sharpen, to point; to give poignancy or keenness to.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 452. Where the thicknesse doth begin to be acuminated in a slender toppe.
a. 1800. Cowper, in Hayley’s Life, II. 250. Tones so dismal, as to make woe itself insupportable, and to acuminate even despair.
1806. W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., IV. 613. They often supply an agreeable variation of imagery, and serve to acuminate attention.
1879. Cornh. Mag., Dec., 689. The work has been revised and acuminated.
† 2. intr. To rise or taper to a point. Obs. rare.
1641. Milton, Church Govt., vi. (1851), 128. Their hierarchies acuminating still higher and higher in a cone of Prelaty.
