▪ I. appropriate, ppl. a. and n.
(əˈprəʊprɪət)
[ad. L. appropriāt-us pa. pple. of appropriā-re: see appropre.]
A. pple. or adj.
1. Annexed or attached (to), as a possession or piece of property; appropriated. spec. in Eccl. Annexed as a benefice to a religious corporation.
| 1599 Sandys Europ. Spec. (1637) 145 The Parish Priests in Italy..have..certeine Farmes as Gleabland appropriate. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. Pref., The Sea's now made appropriate, And yields to all the Laws of state. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., There are computed to be in England 3845 churches appropriate and impropriate. |
† 2. Belonging to oneself; private; selfish. Obs.
| 1627 Feltham Resolves i. lxxxiii. Wks. 1677, 127 Policy..works ever for appropriate ends; Love euer takes a partner into the Benefit. |
† 3. Assigned to a particular person; special, individual. Obs. rare.
| 1796 F. Burney Camilla viii. x, The end, therefore, of her deliberation was to show general gaiety, without appropriate favour. |
4. Attached or belonging as an attribute, quality or right; peculiar to, own. a. absol.
| 1538 Starkey England ii. i. §25. 162 We notyd..in..the hede, an appropryat dysease, wych we callyd then a frencey. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 174 That the sun darts out light and heat to the limits of its appropriate system. 1809 Coleridge Friend (1837) I. i. 9 To charm away..Ennui, is the chief and appropriate business of the poet. |
b. with to.
| 1525 Tindale Par. Wicked Mamm. Wks. I. 50 The forgiveness of sins and justifying is appropriate unto faith only. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 177 Honour, appropriate to the Soveraign onely. 1812 Southey Lett. (1856) II. 307 Coronet..is [a word] appropriate to rank and heraldry. |
5. Specially fitted or suitable, proper. Const. to, for.
| 1546 Phaër Regim. Lyfe B j, Remedies..appropriat to every membre throughout the body. 1594 Plat Sorts of Soyle 56 Salts..most appropriate for the nature of mortar. 1661 Boyle Style H. Script. Wks. 1744 II. 101/2 The Bible's being appropriate..to make wise the simple. 1809 Coleridge Friend (1865) 29 Two mottos equally appropriate. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xi. 47 Prayers and collects appropriate for the great solemnity. |
† B. n. [the adj. used absol.] A thing appropriated or appropriate; a property, attribute. Obs.
| 1618 Chapman Hesiod ii. 551 To prophane The Gods' Appropriates. 1642 Jer. Taylor Episc. (1647) 102 The appropriates of their office so ordain'd by the Apostles. |
▸ appropriate technologist n. an advocate, developer, or practitioner of appropriate technology.
| 1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 27 Nov. e4 The new book..appears unlikely to become the sort of bible for the newly religious that Small is Beautiful has become for *appropriate technologists. 1993 Guardian 3 Sept. ii. 28 The Centre needs an Appropriate Technologist to identify and develop new and existing technologies for training programmes used by a cross-section of people involved in agriculture. |
▸ appropriate technology n. (a) technology considered suitable for a particular application; an instance of this; (b) technology in general, or a particular technology, that is designed to take account of the social, economic, and environmental circumstances in which it is employed, often aiming to meet a specific practical need, and typically (in developing countries) utilizing locally available resources and cheap or renewable energy sources (cf. intermediate technology n. at intermediate adj. and n. Additions).
| 1950 S. A. Mosk Industr. Revol. in Mexico iv. 57 He wanted to encourage that type of industrial development which would permit the inhabitants of the small villages to dovetail industry with the cultivation of their fields. Such development was made possible by coöperation plus an *appropriate technology. 1960 Amer. Econ. Rev. 50 655 Work on appropriate technology should have a very high priority. 1973 E. F. Schumacher Small is Beautiful iii. iii. 189 To disseminate relevant information on appropriate technologies for developing countries, particularly on low-cost methods relating to building, water and power, crop-storage and processing, small-scale manufacturing, health services, transportation and so forth. 1992 A. Gore Earth in Balance xiii. 238 A nuclear power plant..may not be an ‘appropriate’ technology for an underdeveloped nation with an unstable government. 1996 N. Maraire Zenzele v. 75 One year we must generate a middle class; the next year they want to dump us with their technology; the following year they recognize that appropriate technology is the answer; and so it goes on. |
▪ II. appropriate, v.
(əˈprəʊprɪeɪt)
[f. prec. Has replaced the earlier appropre from Fr.]
† 1. To make (a thing) the private property of any one, to make it over to him as his own; to set apart. Obs. exc. as in next.
| 1535 Coverdale Mic. iv. 13 Their goodes shalt thou appropriate vnto the Lorde. 1625 Williams in Fortesc. Pap. 209 My Lord, to whose grace I doe appropriat the worke. 1723 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 332 Whatever the ladies of his family required..he would appropriate to them. |
2. Const. to oneself: = next.
| 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. xx. 118 Here hee appropriateth the title of God to himselfe saying ‘The Lord my God.’ 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. Ded., The concupiscible part..desires to appropriate to it selfe the use of those things in which all others have a joynt interest. 1740 Anson Voy. i. iii. 32 Appropriating the whole ships provisions to themselves. 1876 E. Mellor Priesth. i. 15 The name ‘priest⁓hood’..was never appropriated by apostles to themselves. |
3. Hence ellipt. To take possession of for one's own, to take to oneself.
| 1635 Austin Medit. 181 Christ cannot bee so appropriated, or inclosed. 1784 Cowper Task v. 761 A liberty like his, who unimpeached Of usurpation..Appropriates nature as his Father's work. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. II. vi. 83 The bud appropriates those constituents..for which it has elective attraction. |
4. Eccl. To annex (a benefice) to some religious corporation, as its property.
| 1528 Perkins Profit. Bk. xi. §811 (1642) 363 If a man bee bounden for to appropriate a Church at his owne costs. 1691 Blount Law Dict. s.v., Before the time of Richard the 2nd, it was lawful to appropriate the whole Fruits of a Benefice to an Abbey or Priory. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict. s.v. Appropriation, The monasteries..appropriated as many benefices as they could by any means obtain. |
† 5. To allot, annex, or attach a thing to another as an appendage. Obs.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Esdr. vi. 18 All the ornamentes that Nabuchadonosor..appropriated vnto his owne temple. 1667 E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. iii. x. (1743) 258 They have annexed and appropriated the Market Towns of England..to the respective Postages. |
6. To devote, set apart, or assign to a special purpose or use. Const. to, for.
| 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. i. (1628) 10 Hauing apropriated their first day of the weeke to the peculiar adoration of the sun. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. x. 33 This Swifter Measure is appropriated or used in..Corants, etc. 1779 J. Moore View Soc. II. liv. 49 The front gallery..is appropriated to the court. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. §2. 41 The revenue is appropriated to the payment of University officers. 1882 Daily Tel. 4 May, After appropriating {pstlg}18,424 for the payment of interest on debentures. |
7. To assign or attribute as properly pertaining to; to attribute specially or exclusively. arch.
| 1533 Tindale Supper of Lord 30 His manhood..cannot have this glory only which is appropriated to the Godhead. 1675 Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. v. 104 Appropriating our Original Guilt to Adam's sin alone. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. Introd. 7 These amusements..were appropriated to the season of Lent. 1809 Coleridge Friend i. iv. (1867) 13 The word presumption I appropriate to the internal feeling. |
8. To make, or select as, appropriate or suitable to; to suit. arch.
| 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 435 Albeit they [tools] be appropriated and fitted to the woorke that is wrought. 1635 D. Person Varieties Ded., Accustomed to appropriate the matter of their offerings..to the nature..of the Deity to whom they immolated; as to Mars a horse. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 340 The best methods of Cultivating, appropriating Seeds and manures, and cureing the diseases of land. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. iii. (1819) 41 The membrana tympani..is appropriated to the action of air. 1839 Hallam Hist. Lit. III. iii. vii. §12 The subject chosen is appropriated to the characteristic peculiarities of the poet. |
† 9. To make proper, to fashion suitably. (So Fr. approprier.) Obs.
| 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 79 That God hath so appropriated it [the eye], as to make such a goodly piece of woorke thereof. |