Also 4 corect, (corette), 4–6 correcte, (6 correk, correck(e). Pa. t. and pple. corrected; also pa. t. 5–6 correcte; pa. pple. 5–6 correcte, 5–8 correct (see CORRECT pa. pple.). [f. L. correct- ppl. stem of corrigĕre to out make straight, set right, reform, amend, f. cor- = com- together + regĕre to lead straight, direct, rule.]
1. trans. To set right, amend (a thing); to substitute what is right for the errors or faults in (a writing, etc.). Sometimes, loosely, to point or mark the errors in, in order to their amendment.
† To correct the press: to correct, or mark for correction, the errors or faults in a proof-sheet (obs.).
c. 1374. Chaucer, To Scriv., 6. So oft a day I mot thy work renew It to corect and eke to rubbe and scrape.
c. 1400. Maundev., xxxi. 314. Þat my boke myghte be … corrected be avys of his wyse and discreet conseill.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, Prol. 4. I praye mayster Iohn Skelton … poete laureate in the vnyuersite of oxenforde, to ouersee and correcte this sayd booke.
1583. C. Desainliens, Campo di Fiore, 357. We bring you our writing, that you maye correcte it.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., 2. When he [Cæsar] corrected the Calender.
1659. B. Harris, Parival’s Iron Age, A iij b. Excuse the … roughnesse of the stile, in regard that … my occasions suffered me not to attend, nor correct the Presse.
1778. Bp. Lowth, Isaiah, Prelim. Diss. 61. These they compared together, and … one copy corrected another.
1830. D’Israeli, Chas. I., III. vi. 86. Rubens corrected some of his [the King’s] drawings.
1878. Morley, Diderot, I. 164. Diderot corrected the proof-sheets.
† b. Proverb. To correct the Magnificat. Obs.
1591. Harington, Orl. Fur., Pref. (1634), ¶ viij. As our English proverbe saith … some correct Magnificat that know not quid significat.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 388. To correct the magnificat, nodum in scirpo quærere.
1730–6. Bailey (folio), s.v., To correct the Magnificat … to be hunting after Difficulties where there are none.
c. absol. To make a correction or corrections.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., Prol. 3. Humbly requyryng alle them that shal fynde faulte to correcte and amende where as they shal ony fynde.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary (1625), A iij b. Correct where fault is, and the Printer and I shall be beholding unto you.
1717. Pope, Misc. Wks., Pref. I corrected, because it was as pleasant to me to correct as to write.
2. To set right, rectify, amend (an error or fault).
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 9596. Ilka rightwyse lered man Þat my defaute here correcte can.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., 3. Besechynge hym … Where any Errour in this by hym is sayne, It to correct.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 1312. Shortly he … correcked theyr errour.
1638. Chillingw., Relig. Prot., I. vii. § 21. Those … who sought the truth, being ready, when they found it, to correct their error, were not hereticks.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 149. The means of detecting the errors of instruments are much more powerful than those of correcting them.
3. To set right, amend (a person); to cure of an error or fault; to admonish or rebuke, or to point out the errors or faults of, in order to amendment.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 284. For-þi ȝe corectoures … corecteth fyrst ȝow-seluen.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 661. Ne I wolde nat of hym corrected be.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, 250. Meny that … erred from the faythe she correcte & broughte ayeine to the faythe.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1874), I. 7. With his mery speche myxt with rebukes he correct al them of the cyte that disordredly lyued.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon. (1817), III. 915. The doctor made a rejoynder in elegant Latin, wherein he corrected Powell for his false grammar.
1738. Wesley, Psalms, cxxxix. Correct me where I go astray.
1796. Burney, Metastasio, I. 236. The pleasure I have had in seeing one of my own children corrected of all natural defects.
1806. Lamb, Lett. to Manning, 5 Dec. If I speak incorrectly, you can correct me.
1876. T. Hardy, Hand Ethelb., xiii. Speaking no word … unless … to correct a small sister of somewhat crude manners.
† b. To admonish, advise, direct. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sec. Nun’s T., 162. Valerian, corrected as god wolde, Answerde agayn.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 20. Hermes correctyng kyng hamon yave him this precepte.
4. To punish for faults of character or conduct (properly, in order to amendment); to chastise, chasten.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIX. 299. Spiritus iusticie spareth nouȝte … forto correcte Þe Kynge, ȝif he falle in gylte or in trespasse.
1467. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 390. It shalle be lefulle to eny inhabitaunt to correct his seruant.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Kings xii. 14. My father correcte you with scourges. Ibid., 1 Macc. vi. 16. Yf we synne, he correcketh vs.
1611. Bible, Jer. xlvi. 28. I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure, yet will I not leaue thee wholly vnpunished.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 398. Vagrants meet with punitive charity, and … are oftener corrected than amended.
1798. Bay, Amer. Law Rep. (1809), I. 4. Marine laws have permitted masters of vessels to correct unruly sailors.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 450. He shall not venture to correct such an one by blows.
b. with the offence or fault as object.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 83. Josias … corrected euel dedes.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. viii. § 9. Such madnesse were worthy to be corrected [castigandam] with strokes and stripes.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. ii. 5. Since correction lyeth in those hands Which made the fault that we cannot correct.
1724. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier, II. 272. The Licentiousness of the Soldier is supposed to be approved by the Officer, when it is not corrected.
1771. Junius Lett., lxiv. It is a gross abuse, which the magistrate can and should correct.
† 5. To bring or reduce to order; to reclaim from disorder, wildness, etc., to tame.
1594. Marlowe & Nashe, Dido, IV. ii. Eternal Jove … That with thy gloomy hand corrects the heaven, When airy creatures war amongst themselves.
1657. Hetley, Reports, 50. By the industry of man they [beasts] are corrected, and their savagenesse abated.
1703. Pope, Vertumnus, 37. Sometimes his pruning-hook corrects the vines, And the loose stragglers to their ranks confines.
6. To bring (the bodily ‘humours,’ system, etc.) into a healthy or normal state.
1620. Venner, Via Recta (1650), 133. It … correcteth those [humors] that are putrefied.
1804. Abernethy, Surg. Observ., 130. I … was obliged to soothe this sore since I could not correct it.
1883. A. Dobson, Old-World Idylls, 19. People of rank, to correct their ‘tone,’ Went out of town to Marybone.
7. To counteract or neutralize (hurtful qualities); to remove or prevent the ill effect of (something hurtful or undesirable).
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxvi. 353. Yet ought it [Hellebor] not to be giuen before it be prepared and corrected … with long pepper.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. (1666), 199 (J.). O happy mixture, wherein things contrary do so qualifie and correct the one the danger of the others excess.
1671. R. Bohun, Disc. Wind, 183. The Sun which us’d to correct the rigour and inclemency of the weather, is now banisht from their Horizon.
1731. Arbuthnot, Aliments, VI. vi. 173. Its Quality of relaxing too much may be corrected by boiling it with some Animal Substances.
1853. Soyer, Pantroph., 76. The sweet savour of the honey corrects the bitterness of the plant.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. ii. 171. The heart … corrects the folly of the head.
1856. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XVII. II. 375. This corrected the mossy tendency of the soil.
8. a. Math. and Physics. To bring (the result of an observation or calculation) into accordance with certain standard conditions. † To correct a fluent (in Fluxions): to determine the constant to be added after finding the fluent of a given fluxion (now called the constant of integration).
1774. M. Mackenzie, Maritime Surv., 92. Verify, or correct, their Positions measured by the Log.
1807. Hutton, Course Math., II. 302. To Correct the Fluent of any Given Fluxion…. The finding of the constant quantity c, to be added or subtracted with the fluent as found by the foregoing rules, is called correcting the fluent.
Mod. Reading of the barometer, corrected to sea-level and 32° Fahr.
b. Optics. To eliminate from a lens or other optical instrument the aberration or dispersion of rays which would occasion indistinctness or colored fringes in the image: cf. ABERRATION 6. (Often with the instrument as object.)
1831. Brewster, Optics, viii. 79. Take a prism of each with such angles that they correct each other’s dispersion as much as possible.
1868. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., § 466. 216–7. An achromatic lens … truly made … [has] its spherical aberration corrected as well as its chromatic one.
1890. C. A. Young, Elem. Astron., xvi. § 534. An instrument [i.e., telescope] for photography must have an object-glass specially corrected for the purpose.
