▪ I. appease, v.
(əˈpiːz)
Forms: 4–5 apese, -ayse, 5 -aise, -eise, -ees(e, 5–6 -ease, (6 apeace); 5–6 appese, 5–7 -aise, 6 -ayse, -ayze, 5– appease. See aphet. pease.
[a. OFr. apese-r, apaisie-r, apeisie-r (mod. apaiser) to bring to peace, f. à to + pais, peis, pes (mod. paix):—L. pāc-em peace. Apaisier was thus a later formation from the same elements as apaier:—L. adpācāre (see apay), with a more literal sense. Already in 14th c. aphetized as pese. In 15th c. refashioned as app-, and in spelling reform of 16th c. written appease. A form apeace, assimilated to peace, occurs in 16th c.]
1. a. To bring to peace, pacify, quiet, or settle (strife or disorder).
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 245 Sir Edward gos to Gascoyn forto apese. 1400 Ld. Grey in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. i. I. 3 To apees the misgouernance and the riote. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxi. 207 Praying hym to apease the matter with y⊇ kynge of Aragon. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vii. §26 [Julius Cæsar] could with one word appease a mutiny in his army. 1722 De Foe Mem. Cavaliers (1840) 16 [She] appeased this tumult..by her prudence. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 154 To appease their continual feuds. 1920 W. S. Churchill Let. 24 Mar. in World Crisis: Aftermath (1929) xvii. 378, I should be prepared to make peace with Soviet Russia on the best terms available to appease the general situation. |
b. To bring to peace, calm, or quiet (persons at strife or in disorder). Also fig. Obs. exc. as in 4 b.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3212 Betwene hem wente kyng Sortybron {revsc} & a-paysede hem. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W.) i. vii. 11 b/2 Moued by charyte..tacorde & appese them togider. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Acts xix. 35 When the Scribe had appeased the multitudes. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 53 Busied in appeasing..the disordred city. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 317 To appease the troubled ocean. |
2. a. To pacify, assuage, or allay (anger or displeasure). Also fig.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. vii. 148 Hercules..apaised[e] wiþ þat deeþ þe wraþþe of euander. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour 13 Forto apese the wrathe of God..thei fasted. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. Ff viij, The iuste goddis neuer appease theyr yres agaynst vniuste men. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. ix. 9 These two kids t'appease his angry mood, I bear. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 79 ¶5 To appease enmity by blandishments and bribes. 1846 Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. vi. §9 By the mists..his [the sun's] implacable light is divided, and its separated fierceness appeased into the soft blue. |
b. To pacify or propitiate (him who is angry).
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 22 Ye fers Mars apesyn of his yre. c 1450 Merlin xxvi. 501 Thus apeesed the Queen Sir Gawein. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 187/2 Christe..hath once appeased God his father toward vs. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 846 Hasten to appease The incensed Father, and the incensed Son. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. xlix, This well-timed compliment instantly appeased the angry fairy. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 244 The king was silenced, but not appeased. |
c. Politics. In derog. sense (cf. sense 2 a, quot. 1750), used esp. of the British Prime Minister's efforts from 1937 to 1939 to placate, and so stave off the threatened aggression of, the Axis powers: to engage in a policy of appeasement (see appeasement).
| 1939 Ann. Reg. 1938 104 So far were they from trying to ‘appease’ the Dictators that they might rather be described as ‘facing up’ to them. 1940 War Illustr. 16 Feb. 106/3 If at any time..there are signs of a renewed desire for appeasement, let the fate of the Polish people remind us of the power we wish to appease. 1940 New Statesman 21 Dec. 650/1 He took a different view of the Nazis, whom he thought we could successfully appease. 1940 New Republic 23 Dec. 852/2 While England is appeasing Franco in this strictly limited sense, Franco is certainly not appeasing world opinion. |
3. To assuage, soothe, allay, or relieve: a. physical pain (obs.) or mental suffering.
| c 1374 Chaucer Compl. Mars 10 Apeseth [v.r. appeseth, -ease, -eesiþe, -esith, apaysith] sumwhat of your sorowes smart. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 448 In the wynter season Covert of stre thaire coldes must appeson. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. ii. iv. 19 To appayse the payne of all apostemes. 1706 Addison Rosamond iii. iii, Fain would my tongue his griefs appease. 1828 Hawthorne Fanshawe v. (1879) 78, I pray you to appease your anxiety. |
† b. the sufferer or part affected. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 887 Berith hym this blew ring, For ther is nothing might..better his hert apese. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. i. (1483) 58 Solace..wherwith to appesen his herte. 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. Pref. 11 The sicke [shall be] appaysed of griefe. |
4. To pacify, by satisfying demands (lit. or fig.): a. complaints (obs.), cravings, appetites, prejudices.
| 1548 Coverdale Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. xi. 25 To apease mennes bodyly thruste. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 29 Now then your plaint appease. 1783 Johnson Lett. 329 II. 330 To have no assistance..in resolving doubts, in appeasing scruples. 1863 Burton Bk. Hunter 42 The savage who seeks but to appease the hunger of the moment. |
b. the person who makes the demand or has the appetite. Const. with.
| 1561 T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. Pref., He hymselfe was appeased with a cardinalls hatte. 1728 Newton Chronol. Amended ii. 223 Bacchus appeased him [Vulcan] with wine. 1833 H. Martineau Berkeley i. iii. 60 What did you do to appease these insolent fellows? |
† 5. refl. in prec. senses. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Melib. ¶895 Whan he is debonaire and meeke, and appesith [apeiseth, -aiseth] him lightly. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. 47 She appeased hyr self. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. vii. 6 Fayre suster appease your selfe. |
† 6. intr. in prec. senses. Obs.
| c 1440 Partonope 3986 Hys hert somwat ganne apese. c 1500 Colyn Blowbol's Test. in Halliwell Nugæ Poet. 2 Whan his angwyssh somwhat gan apese. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xcii. 114 The thirde day..the see apeased. 1561 T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. i. 18 After the crueltie appeased. |
▪ II. † aˈppease, n. Obs. rare.
[f. prec. vb.]
An appeasing, allaying; appeasement.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 2342 Tho thai were al at aise Ich went to his in apaise. 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 59 The engines of raising water [were] so destroyed, that there was no suitable appease to it. |