v. [f. L. typus TYPE sb.1: see -FY; cf. F. typifié (Littré).]
1. trans. To represent or express by a type or symbol; to serve as a type, figure, or emblem of; to symbolize; to prefigure.
1634. Wither, Emblemes, 5. Glorie by the wreath is typifide.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., V. viii. 246. We cannot well conceive the wood a burthen for a boy, but such a one unto Isaac, as that which it typified was unto Christ.
1673. Penn, The Chr. a Quaker, xvi. 570. How can Christ be said to be typified out?
1730. Waterland, Script. Vind., Pref. 8. That Fact expresses, prefigures, or typifies, another Fact of a higher and more important Nature.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Loom & Lugger, II. v. 103. A double death was to be typified by its fate.
1858. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk. (1873), III. II. ii. 233. The Euxine! that strange mysterious sea, which typifies the abyss of outer darkness.
1854. Bowen, Logic, viii. (1870), 248. A Syllogism, which is a union of three Judgments, is appropriately typified by a triangle, a union of three lines.
2. To serve as the typical specimen or characteristic example of (a class, family, etc.); to exhibit the essential characters of; to exemplify.
1854. Murchison, Siluria, i. (1867), 7. Fossils which might typify such supposed older sediments.
1868. Owen, Anat. Vertebr. Anim., III. 374. The second deciduous molar … typifies the form of the upper sectorial, which is retained in the permanent dentition of several Viverrine and Musteline species.
Hence Typified ppl. a., Typifying vbl. sb. and ppl. a. Also Typifier, one who typifies (rare).
1653. Baxter, Worc. Petit. Def., 313. The typifying use may cease. Ibid. (1685), Paraphr. N. T., Matt. v. 17. The Ceremonial part … was but a Typifying prediction of me.
1745. Warburton, Remarks Occas. Refl., II. xviii. 95. A modern Typifier, who deals only in Similitudes and Correspondences.
1851. Wardlaw, Zech., v. (1869), 98. As the typical Zerubbabel finished the typical temple, so surely shall the typified finish His.
