establish, v.
(ɪˈstæblɪʃ)
Forms: 4 establisse-n, 5 astabilishe, establisch, -ysch, -issh, 6 astablese, establyshe, 4– establish. See also stablish.
[ME. establisse-n, a. OF. establiss- lengthened stem of establir: see prec.]
1. To render stable or firm. † a. To strengthen by material support (obs.). † b. To ratify, confirm, validate (obs.). c. To confirm, settle (what is weak or wavering); to restore (health) permanently; to give calmness or steadiness to (the mind). † d. catachr. To calm (anger), to settle (doubts).
| [1375 Barbour Bruce x. 303 His land first [weill] stablist he.] 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 10 a, Establisshe and ease thyn ire with thy pacience. 1524 Cdl. Wolsey in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. iv. 53 This small number of halbardiers were appointed..to establish every captain of your archers. 1533 Frith Answ. More 34 b, I shall establyshe his wordes by S. Austen. 1537 in Wright Monast. Lett. 154 To conferme, ratefie and astabilishe this my deyd [of surrender of Furness Abbey]. 1558 Kennedy Compend. Tract. in Wodr. Soc. Misc. (1844) 108 The onelie jugis appoyntit be God, to establische all doutis. 1611 Bible Numb. xxx. 13 Euery vow..her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it voyd. ― Rom. iii. 31 Doe we then make void the lawe through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the Law. 1623 J. Winthrop Let. in Hist. New Eng. (1853) I. 407, I pray continually, that God will please to establish your heart. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 211 Supports, Cradles, Canes or Hoofs, to establish them [Carnations, etc.] against Winds. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4439/2 The great Pensioner's Health seems to be Establish'd. 1815 Jane Austen Emma i. viii. 56 Harriet's cheerful look and manner established hers. |
2. a. To fix, settle, institute or ordain permanently, by enactment or agreement. Sometimes with obj. clause. † Also (rarely) to impose (something) upon.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. iv. 311 Coempcioun þat is to seyn commun achat or bying to-gidere þat were establissed vpon poeple by swiche a manere imposicioun as, etc. c 1386 ― Pars. T. ¶155 The peynes that been establissed and ordeyned for synne. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. H v b, Y⊇ beginning of y⊇ monethes was swa astablesed. 1611 Bible Gen. ix. 9 And I, behold, I establish my couenant with you. 1660 Chas. II. Declar. Eccl. Affairs in Cobbett Parl. Hist. (1808) IV. 139 We shall use our best endeavour that such laws may be established, as may best provide for the peace of the church and state. 1700–1 Act Settlement 12–13 Will. III, c. 2. §2 Subject to such Incapacities, as.. are by the said recited Act provided, enacted, and established. a 1714 Sharp Wks. I. vi. 177 The standing public methods which God hath established in the church. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §283 Having first established, that they should quit the work at nights. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. Introd. 42 This edict was established, for the regulation of the Christian army..during the Crusade. 1884 Gladstone in Standard 29 Feb. 2/6 We establish in Irish counties, as in Scotch and English counties..the lodger franchise. |
† b. To secure or settle (property, privileges, etc.) to or upon persons. Obs.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 139 To establisch..the same Lyvelood to his Crowne. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iv. 37 We will establish our estate upon Our eldest Malcolm. 1665 Walton Life Hooker 33 Destroying what was by those known laws happily establisht to them and their posterity. |
† c. To impute (guilt) to. Obs. [Cf. ‘ne statuas illis hoc peccatum,’ Acts vii. 30 in Vulgate.]
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 99/1 He cryed with an hye voys and said ‘lord establysshe not to theym thys synne’. |
3. To set up on a secure or permanent basis; to found (a government, an institution; in mod. use often, a house of business).
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 103 It schal be good that an honorable..Conceile be establischid. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. (1554) xxvii. I. xxi, Knighthode, he sayed, was first established The commen wealthe in right to defende. 1670 Temple Let. in Wks. (1731) III. 227 A Government is never well established but in the Hearts of the Subjects. 1863 P. Barry Dockyard Econ. xii. 261 The manufactory of Messrs. ― was first established towards the end of the last century. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. xi. (1880) 183 They succeeded in establishing many important and highly flourishing colonies. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 433 The throne of Cnut, established by wasting wars. |
4. a. To place in a secure or permanent position; to install and secure in a possession, office, dignity, etc.; to ‘set up’ (a person, oneself) in business; to settle (a person) in or at a place; refl. to obtain a secure footing; also in weaker sense, to take up one's quarters. † Also intr. for refl. To ‘settle’.
| 1557 Order Hospitalls B v, To deliuer unto such [Bedells] as then remayne, their Staves, and again astablishe them. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. iii. 86 The senators to-morrow Mean to establish Cæsar as a king. 1677 Govt. Venice 102 Since the Turks established in Europe. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 73/2 Numa..with a view to establish himself in the people's good graces..attempted to soften them. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §298 The workmen being established in the house..every one went to the occupation allotted. 1815 Scribbleomania 96 If a writer be desirous of establishing himself as a candid censor of literature. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. lvii. 205 His first object was to establish Eumenes in his satrapy. 1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle L. iii. 92 The gentlemen of the party..established themselves in very comfortable rooms. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. 83 The Jewish traders..were enabled by the royal protection to establish themselves in separate quarters. |
† b. To provide for the maintenance of (persons). Obs. Cf. settle.
| 1644 Chas. I. in Clarendon Hist. Reb. viii. (1843) 514/1 [He appointed them] to consider..in what manner his family should be established. 1872 H. Lawrenny in Fortn. Rev. Mar. 313 Heads of families ceased..to dower and ‘establish’ the daughters of the house. |
5. a. To set up or bring about permanently (a state of things); to ‘create’ (a precedent); to introduce and secure permanent acceptance for (a custom, a belief). Also, to secure for oneself, gain permanently (a reputation, a position).
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. i. 86 But to establish here a peace indeed. 1814 Stock Exchange Laid Open 5 It establishes a price in the market. 1826 F. Cooper Mohicans ii, The most confirmed gait that he could establish was a Canterbury gallop with the hind legs. a 1832 Mackintosh Causes Revolution Wks. 1846 II. 164 He had established, by his own sole authority, the most unbounded liberty of worship. 1861 Tulloch Eng. Purit. ii. 177 In the remaining years of Milton's academic career, he established a high reputation for scholarship. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vi, It has been hard work to establish order here. 1885 Manch. Exam. 13 July 5/3 The French troops have pretty well established their ascendency in the capital. |
b. To erect into (a rule, etc.). † Also (with complement), to secure in a certain condition.
| 1795 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 113 Emergencies which threatened our country with slavery, but ended in establishing it free. 1855 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon II. i. 17 If such a tyranny is allowed to be established into a principle, etc. |
c. Card-playing. to establish a suit (see quot.).
| 1862 ‘Cavendish’ Whist (1879) 56 Twos and threes may become quite as valuable [as higher cards] when the suit is established. 1876 A. Campbell-Walker Correct Card Gloss. 11 A suit is said to be established when you have exhausted all the best cards in it which were against you. |
d. Cinemat., etc. To introduce and secure the identity or position of (a character, set, etc.).
| 1948, etc. [see establishing ppl. a.]. 1960 O. Skilbeck Film & TV Working Terms 48 Artists, or items in sets, are said to be established once they have been photographed. From then on, their positions must be held. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 252 Establishing an effect. Allowing it sufficient time (and volume, which may be greater than that subsequently used) for it to register in the listener's mind. 1966 Listener 22 Sept. 426/3 Lillian Hellman's screenplay..deserves credit for the swiftly efficient manner in which the numerous main characters are established. |
6. a. To place beyond dispute; to prove (a proposition, claim, accusation); rarely with personal obj. and complement.
| a 1704 T. Brown Sat. Antients Wks. 1730 I. 21 He has establish'd..five or six essential differences between those two poems. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 134 This doctrine Cæsar Magatus and Belloste have taken great pains to establish. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 224 If he fail to establish in your minds the innocence of the count. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 659 His great point he seems to me fully to establish. 1873 Browning Red. Cott. Nt.-cap 266 Some better theory Than would establish him participant In doings yonder. 1885 Sir C. P. Butt in Law Times Rep. LIII. 61/1 It is..extremely difficult to establish a case of negligence against the steamer. |
b. To affirm judicially the validity of (a disputed will).
| 1818 Cruise Digest. (ed. 2) VI. 311 Upon a bill to establish this will..Sir Joseph Jekyll declared that, etc. |
7. From 16th c. often used with reference to ecclesiastical ceremonies or organization, and to the recognized national church or its religion; in early use chiefly pass. in sense 2 (esp. in phrase by law established, i.e. ‘prescribed or settled by law’), but sometimes with mixture of senses 3–5. Hence in recent use: To place (a church or a religious body) in the position of a national or state church.
| 1558 Act 1 Eliz. c. 2. §27 Laws wherein..any other service is limited, established, or set forth to be used within this realm. 1592 Sc. Acts 12 Parl. Jas. VI, §114 The trew and halie Kirk, presentlie established within this Realme. 1642 King's Protest. 19 Sept. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1721) V 21, I will..defend and maintain The True Reformed Protestant Religion established in the Church of England. 1660 Chas. II Declar. Eccl. Affairs 25 Oct. 8 The..esteem we have for the Church of England, as it is established by Law. 1731 Calamy Life (1830) I. i. 73 Opposition to the church by law established. 1731 Swift Presbyterian's Plea Merit Wks. 1776 IV. 260 Which [Presbyterian] sect was..established in all its forms by..an ordinance of the lords and commons. 1838 Gladstone State in Rel. Ch. 108 What is established is by the very force of the term likewise endowed. |
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Add: [6.] c. In weakened use: to determine or ascertain; to find out.
| 1919 Engineering & Mining Jrnl. 17 May 872/1 The geophone..is now being used by the Bureau of Mines..in establishing the location of miners who have been entombed after a disaster. 1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet iii. ii. 223 So he held himself still.., trying..to establish whether he was above or below the tree. 1965 ‘W. Trevor’ Boarding-House xii. 139 She was looking through the clothes, trying to establish what belonged to whom. 1984 Abraham & Llewellyn-Jones Eating Disorders v. 37 The purpose of the questions is to try to establish whether the patient is prepared to alter her eating behaviour. |