v. Forms: 4 establisse-n, 5 astabilishe, establisch, -ysch, -issh, 6 astablese, establyshe, 4– establish. See also STABLISH. [ME. establisse-n, a. OF. establiss- lengthened stem of establir: see prec.]
1. To render stable or firm. † a. To strengthen by material support (obs.). † b. To ratify, confirm, validate (obs.). c. To confirm, settle (what is weak or wavering); to restore (health) permanently; to give calmness or steadiness to (the mind). † d. catachr. To calm (anger), to settle (doubts).
[1375. Barbour, Bruce, X. 303. His land first [weill] stablist he.]
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 10 a. Establisshe and ease thyn ire with thy pacience.
1524. Cdl. Wolsey, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. iv. 53. This small Number of Halbardiers were appointed … to establish every Captain of your Archers.
1533. Frith, Answ. More, 34 b. I shall establyshe his wordes by S. Austen.
1537. in Wright, Monast. Lett., 154. To conferme, ratefie and astabilishe this my deyd [of surrender of Furness Abbey].
1558. Kennedy, Compend. Tract., in Wodr. Soc. Misc. (1844), 108. The onelie jugis appoyntit be God, to establische all doutis.
1611. Bible, Numb. xxx. 13. Euery vow … her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it voyd. Ibid., Rom. iii. 31. Doe we then make void the lawe through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the Law.
1623. J. Winthrop, Lett., in Hist. New Eng. (1853), I. 407. I pray continually, that God will please to establish your heart.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 211. Supports, Cradles, Canes or Hoofs, to establish them [Carnations, etc.] against Winds.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4439/2. The great Pensioner’s Health seems to be Establish’d.
1815. Jane Austen, Emma, I. viii. 56. Harriet’s cheerful look and manner established hers.
2. To fix, settle, institute or ordain permanently, by enactment or agreement. Sometimes with obj. clause. † Also (rarely) to impose (something) upon.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. iv. 311. Coempcioun þat is to seyn commun achat or bying to-gidere þat were establissed vpon poeple by swiche a manere imposicioun as [etc.]. Ibid. (c. 1386), Parson’s T., ¶ 155. The peynes that been establissed and ordeyned for synne.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., H v b. Ye beginning of ye monethes was swa astablesed.
1611. Bible, Gen. ix. 9. And I, behold, I establish my couenant with you.
1660. Chas. II., Declar. Eccl. Affairs, in Cobbett, Parl. Hist. (1808), IV. 139. We shall use our best endeavour that such laws may be established, as may best provide for the peace of the church and state.
1700–1. Act Settlement 12–13 Will. III., c. 2 § 2. Subject to such Incapacities, as … are by the said recited Act provided, enacted, and established.
a. 1714. Sharp, Wks., I. vi. 177. The standing public methods which God hath established in the church.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 283. Having first established, that they should quit the work at nights.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., Introd. 42. This edict was established, for the regulation of the Christian army … during the Crusade.
1884. Gladstone, in Standard, 29 Feb., 2/6. We establish in Irish counties, as in Scotch and English counties … the lodger franchise.
† b. To secure or settle (property, privileges, etc.) to or upon persons. Obs.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 139–4. To establisch … the same Lyvelood to his Crowne.
1605. Shaks., Macb., I. iv. 37. We will establish our Estate vpon Our eldest, Malcolme.
1665. Walton, Life Hooker, 33. Destroying what was by those known laws happily establisht to them and their posterity.
† c. To impute (guilt) to. Obs. [Cf. ‘ne statuas illis hoc peccatum,’ Acts vii. 30 in Vulgate].
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 99/1. He cryed with an hye voys and said ‘lord establysshe not to theym thys synne.’
3. To set up on a secure or permanent basis; to found (a government, an institution; in mod. use often, a house of business).
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 103. It schal be good, that an honorable and notable Conceile be establischid.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas. (1554), XXVII. I. xxi. Knighthode, he sayed, was first established The commen wealthe in right to defende.
1670. Temple, Lett., in Wks. (1731), III. 227. A Government is never well established but in the Hearts of the Subjects.
1863. P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., xii. 261. The manufactory of Messrs. —— was first established towards the end of the last century.
1867. Smiles, Huguenots Eng., xi. (1880), 183. They succeeded in establishing many important and highly flourishing colonies.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. vi. 433. The throne of Cnut, established by wasting wars.
4. To place in a secure or permanent position; to install and secure in a possession, office, dignity, etc.; to ‘set up’ (a person, oneself) in business; to settle (a person) in or at a place; refl. to obtain a secure footing; also in weaker sense, to take up one’s quarters. † Also intr. for refl. To ‘settle.’
1557. Order of Hospitalls, B v. To deliuer unto such [Bedells] as then remayne, their Staves, and again astablishe them.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. iii. 86. The Senators to morrow Meane to establish Cæsar as a King.
1677. Govt. Venice, 102. The Greatness and ancient Extent of this Commonwealth may be estimated by their losses since the Turks established in Europe.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1879), I. 73/2. Numa … with a view to establish himself in the people’s good graces … attempted to soften them.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 298. The workmen being established in the house … every one went to the occupation allotted.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 96, note. If a writer be desirous of establishing himself as a candid censor of literature.
1840. Thirlwall, Greece, VII. lvii. 205. His first object was to establish Eumenes in his satrapy.
1867. Lady Herbert, Cradle L., iii. 92. The gentlemen of the party … established themselves in very comfortable rooms.
1874. Green, Short Hist., ii. 83. The Jewish traders … were enabled by the royal protection to establish themselves in separate quarters.
† b. To provide for the maintenance of (persons). Obs. Cf. settle.
1644. Charles I., in Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VIII. (1843), I. 514/1. [He appointed them] to consider … in what manner his family should be established.
1872. H. Lawrenny, in Fortn. Rev., March, 313. Heads of families ceased … to dower and establish the daughters of the house.
5. To set up or bring about permanently (a state of things); to ‘create’ (a precedent); to introduce and secure permanent acceptance for (a custom, a belief). Also, to secure for oneself, gain permanently (a reputation, a position).
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. i. 86. But to establish here a Peace indeede, Concurring both in Name and Qualitie.
1814. Stock Exchange Laid Open, 5. It establishes a price in the market.
1826. J. F. Cooper, Mohicans, ii. The most confirmed gait that he could establish was a Canterbury gallop with the hind legs.
a. 1832. Mackintosh, Causes Revolution, Wks. 1846, II. 164. He had established, by his own sole authority, the most unbounded liberty of worship.
1861. Tulloch, Eng. Purit., ii. 177. In the remaining years of Milton’s academic career, he established a high reputation for scholarship.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. vi. It has been hard work to establish order here.
1885. Manch. Exam., 13 July, 5/3. The French troops have pretty well established their ascendency in the capital.
b. To erect into (a rule, etc.). † Also (with complement), to secure in a certain condition.
1795. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), IV. 113. Emergencies which threatened our country with slavery, but ended in establishing it free.
1854. J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), III. i. 17. If … such a tyranny is allowed to be established into a principle [etc.].
c. Card-playing. To establish a suit (see quot.).
1862. ‘Cavendish,’ Whist (1879), 56. Twos and threes may become quite as valuable [as higher cards] when the suit is established.
1876. A. Campbell-Walker, Correct Card, Gloss. 11. A suit is said to be established when you have exhausted all the best cards in it which were against you.
6. To place beyond dispute; to prove (a proposition, claim, accusation); rarely with personal obj. and complement.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Sat. Antients, Wks. 1730, I. 21. He has establish’d … five or six essential differences between those two poems.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 134. This doctrine Cæsar Magatus and Belloste have taken great pains to establish.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. 224. If he fail to establish in your minds the innocence of the count.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 659. His great point he seems to me fully to establish.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 266. Some better theory Than would establish him participant In doings yonder.
1885. Sir C. P. Butt, in Law Times Rep., LIII. 61/1. It is … extremely difficult to establish a case of negligence against the steamer.
b. To affirm judicially the validity of (a disputed will).
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), VI. 311. Upon a bill to establish this will … Sir Joseph Jekyll declared that [etc.].
7. From 16th c. often used with reference to ecclesiastical ceremonies or organization, and to the recognized national church or its religion; in early use chiefly pass. in sense 2 (esp. in phrase by law established, i.e., ‘prescribed or settled by law’), but sometimes with mixture of senses 3–5. Hence in recent use: To place (a church or a religious body) in the position of a national or state church.
1558. Act 1 Eliz., c. 2 § 27. Laws wherein … any other service is limited, established, or set forth to be used within this realm.
1592. Sc. Acts 12 Parl. Jas. VI., § 114. The trew and halie Kirk, presentlie established within this Realme.
1642. King’s Protest., 19 Sept., in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1721), V. 21. I will … defend and maintain The True Reformed Protestant Religion established in the Church of England.
1660. Charles II., Declar. Eccl. Affairs, 25 Oct., 8. The … esteem we have for the Church of England, as it is established by Law.
1731. Calamy, Life (1830), I. i. 73. Opposition to the church by law established.
1731. Swift, Presbyterian’s Plea Merit, Wks. 1776, IV. 260. Which [Presbyterian] sect was … established in all its forms by … an ordinance of the lords and commons.
1838. Gladstone, State in Rel. Ch., 108. What is established is by the very force of the term likewise endowed.
