Hebraize, v.
(ˈhiːbreɪaɪz)
[ad. Gr. Ἑβρα{giumlacu}ζειν to speak Hebrew, to imitate Jews, f. stem Ἑβρα- in Ἑβρα-ικός, etc.: see Hebrew. Cf. F. hébraïser.]
1. intr. To use a Hebrew idiom or manner of speech.
| 1645 Milton Tetrach. (1851) 237 The Evangelist heer Hebraizes. 1699 [see below]. 1862 Lowell Biglow P. Poems 1890 II. 329 If they [Puritans] Hebraized a little too much in their speech, they showed remarkable practical sagacity as statesmen and founders. |
b. To follow Hebraism as an ideal of mind and conduct. See Hebraism 2 b.
| 1869 [see Hellenize 1 b]. 1869 M. Arnold Cult. & Anarchy v, We have fostered our Hebraizing instincts, our preference of earnestness of doing to delicacy and flexibility of thinking, too exclusively. |
2. trans. To make Hebrew; to give a Hebrew character or quality to.
| 1816 G. S. Faber Orig. Pagan Idol. II. 292 What they hebraized into Sabaoth was, I believe, no other than the Indian Seba. 1869 [see below]. 1873 Tristram Moab xiv. 276 An attempt to Hebraize a foreign sound. |
Hence ˈHebraized ppl. a., ˈHebraizing vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also Hebraiˈzation, the action of Hebraizing; ˈHebraizer, one who Hebraizes.
| 1699 Bentley Phal. 412 We must impeach him not only for Atticizing, but for Hebraizing too. 1869 Daily News 1 Feb., A deeply Hebraized Christianity. 1869 M. Arnold Cult. & An. iv. (1882) 143 The Reformation has been often called a Hebraising revival. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. I. 256 The stern old Hebraisers—the Hebrews of Hebrews—who taught in the schools of Palestine and Jerusalem. 18.. N. York Courier-Jrnl. (Cent.), The next decade will see a more extensive Hebraization of the wholesale trade of New York than ever. |