legitimatize, v.
(lɪˈdʒɪtɪmətaɪz)
[f. legitimate a. + -ize.]
trans. To render legitimate or lawful, in various senses, esp. to render (a child) legitimate by legal enactment or otherwise.
| 1791 Mackintosh Vind. Gall. Wks. 1846 III. 32 The approbation of the men legitimatizes the government. 1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1876) I. [II.] i. iii. 115 The Turk does not deign to legitimatize his possession of the soil he has violently seized. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. vii. 158 She might have been legitimatized by act of parliament. 1868 Ffoulkes Ch. Creed or Crown's C. 60 The wily forger..sought to legitimatise them by the high authority which he claimed. 1883 Daily Tel. 20 June 7/4 The alteration..will have the effect of legitimatizing the offspring of past marriages. |
Hence leˈgitimatized ppl. a.
| 1856 Doran Knts. & their Days xvii. 285 The legitimatised son of himself [Louis XIV] and Madame de Montespan. 1885 Athenæum 29 Aug. 271/2 Joan Beaufort, the legitimatized daughter of John of Gaunt. |