dignify, v.
(ˈdɪgnɪfaɪ)
[a. OF. dignefier, dignifier, ad. med.L. dignificāre, f. dign-us worthy + -ficāre: see -fy.]
1. trans. To make worthy or illustrious; to confer dignity or honour upon; to ennoble, honour.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 210 Illumyned & dignyfyed of Chryst. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 22 Such a Day..Came not, till now, to dignifie the Times Since Cæsars Fortunes. c 1600 ― Sonn. lxxxiv, He that writes of you, if he can tell That you are you, so dignifies his story. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 940 Us his prime Creatures, dignifi'd so high, Set over all his Works. 1732 Pope Hor. Sat. ii. ii. 141 No Turbots dignify my boards. 1824 L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 357 As accent dignifies the syllable on which it is laid, and makes it more distinguished by the ear than the rest. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. Introd. 16 There arose to dignify the struggle the moral principle which all this time it had wanted. |
b. To render majestic or stately.
| 1749 Smollett Gil Blas xi. v, He would write as well as he speaks, if, in order to dignify his style, he did not affect expressions which render it stiff and obscure. c 1790 Cowper On Milton's P.L. i. 689 How an act or image, vulgar and ordinary in itself, may be dignified by mere force of diction. 1791 ― Odyss. xxiii. 181 Then Pallas..dignified his form With added amplitude. |
c. In lighter use: To represent as worthy (by implication, as worthier than it is); to give a high-sounding name or title to.
| [1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 103 Yet giues he not till iudgment guide his bounty, Nor dignifies an impaire thought with breath. 1665 Glanvill Scepsis Sci. 80 'Tis usual for men to dignifie what they have bestowed pains upon.] 1750 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann (1834) II. ccxxii. 374 You will think my letters are absolute jest and story books unless you..dignify them with the title of Walpoliana. 1791–1823 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1839) III. 341 The science of books, for so bibliography is sometimes dignified. Mod. A school dignified with the name of a college. |
† 2. To invest with a dignity or honour; to exalt in rank; to confer a title of honour upon. ? Obs.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 5/2 Emperors in ancient time haue dignified them in titles. 1660 Blount Boscobel ii. (1680) 21 The Earl of Southampton..now with much merit dignifyed with the great office of Lord High Treasurer. 1727 W. Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 105 Nor ought Sons of the Nobility to be Dignified..with less than the Title of Honourable, as being their due by Birth-Right. |
Hence ˈdignifying vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 101 The Grand-Seignior never nameth us with dignifying titles. 1639 Ld. Digby, etc. Lett. conc. Relig. (1657) 81 Those dignifying circumstances..belong onely to such doctrines [etc.]. Ibid. 82 That seal, with those quarterings and dignifyings wherewith you blazon it. |