[f. prec. Has replaced the earlier APPROPRE from Fr.]
† 1. To make (a thing) the private property of any one, to make it over to him as his own; to set apart. Obs. exc. as in next.
1535. Coverdale, Mic. iv. 13. Their goodes shalt thou appropriate vnto the Lorde.
1625. Williams, in Fortesc. Pap., 209. My Lord, to whose grace I doe appropriat the worke.
1723. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 332. Whatever the ladies of his family required … he would appropriate to them.
2. Const. to oneself: = next.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. xx. 118. Here hee appropriateth the title of God to himselfe saying ‘The Lord my God.’
1651. Hobbes, Govt. & Soc., Ded. The concupiscible part … desires to appropriate to it selfe the use of those things in which all others have a joynt interest.
1740. Anson, Voy., I. iii. 32. Appropriating the whole ships provisions to themselves.
1876. E. Mellor, Priesth., i. 15. The name ‘priesthood’ … was never appropriated by apostles to themselves.
3. Hence ellipt. To take possession of for one’s own, to take to oneself.
1635. Austin, Medit., 181. Christ cannot bee so appropriated, or inclosed.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 761. A liberty like his, who unimpeached Of usurpation … Appropriates nature as his Father’s work.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sci., II. vi. 83. The bud appropriates those constituents … for which it has elective attraction.
4. Eccl. To annex (a benefice) to some religious corporation, as its property.
1528. Perkins, Profit. Bk., xi. § 811 (1642), 363. If a man bee bounden for to appropriate a Church at his owne costs.
1691. Blount, Law Dict., s.v., Before the time of Richard the 2nd, it was lawful to appropriate the whole Fruits of a Benefice to an Abbey or Priory.
1809. Tomlins, Law Dict., s.v. Appropriation, The monasteries … appropriated as many benefices as they could by any means obtain.
† 5. To allot, annex or attach a thing to another as an appendage. Obs.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Esdr. vi. 18. All the ornamentes that Nabuchadonosor … appropriated vnto his owne temple.
1667. E. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. III. x. (1743), 258. They have annexed and appropriated the Market Towns of England … to the respective Postages.
6. To devote, set apart, or assign to a special purpose or use. Const. to, for.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., i. (1628), 10. Hauing apropriated their first day of the weeke to the peculiar adoration of the sun.
1674. Playford, Skill Mus., I. x. 33. This swifter Measure is appropriated or used in light Lessons, as Corants, [etc.].
1779. J. Moore, View Soc., II. liv. 49. The front gallery … is appropriated to the court.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., § 2. 41. The revenue is appropriated to the payment of University officers.
1882. Daily Tel., 4 May, 4/3. After appropriating £18,424 for the payment of interest on debentures.
7. To assign or attribute as properly pertaining to; to attribute specially or exclusively. arch.
1533. Tindale, Supper of Lord, 30. His manhood … cannot have this glory only which is appropriated to the Godhead.
1675. Baxter, Cath. Theol., II. v. 104. Appropriating our Original Guilt to Adam’s sin alone.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., Introd. 7. These amusements … were appropriated to the season of Lent.
1809. Coleridge, Friend, I. iv. (1867), 13. The word presumption I appropriate to the internal feeling.
8. To make, or select as, appropriate or suitable to; to suit. arch.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 435. Albeit they [tools] be appropriated and fitted to the woorke that is wrought.
1635. Person, Varieties, Ded. Accustomed to appropriate the matter of their offerings … to the nature … of the Deity to whom they immolated; as to Mars a horse.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 340. The best methods of Cultivating, appropriating Seeds and manures, and cureing the diseases of land.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., iii. (1819), 41. The membrana tympani … is appropriated to the action of air.
1839. Hallam, Hist. Lit., III. III. vii. § 12. The subject chosen is appropriated to the characteristic peculiarities of the poet.
† 9. To make proper, to fashion suitably. (So Fr. approprier.) Obs.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 79. That God hath so appropriated it [the eye], as to make such a goodly piece of woorke thereof.
