predestine, v.
(prɪˈdɛstɪn)
Also 5 -en, -ayne, -yne, 7 -in.
[a. F. prédestiner (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), or ad. L. prædestināre: see predestinate v.]
1. trans. To destine beforehand; to appoint, ordain, or decree previously. a. Theol., etc. To foreordain by an eternal purpose, in the way of a Divine decree or of fate; to appoint beforehand by destiny, or to some destiny. (Mostly in pass. Also absol.)
| c 1380 [see predestining below]. a 1400–50 Alexander 305 Be-soȝt sekirly þis sire..Þat scho myȝt weterly wete..Quatkyn poynt or plyte predestend hire were. 1483 Caxton Cato E vj, Syth al were ordeyned and predestyned whan man shold deye. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1595) 145 If..some bitter aduersitie and ouerthrowe be predestined vnto us. 1687 Settle Refl. Dryden 12 Heaven predestins nothing for any man that should raise him to an excess of joy or grief. 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 24 The day predestin'd to reward his woes. 1838 Lytton Leila v. iii, The fall of Granada is predestined. 1879 Farrar St. Paul II. 243 God predestines; man is free. How this is we cannot say. |
b. In lighter or more general sense: To determine, settle, or fix upon beforehand; to appoint as if by fate or destiny; to fate, doom. (Usually in pass.)
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. viii, Voluminous papers, whose best folios are predestined to no better end than to make winding-sheets in lent for pilchers. 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 194 Here the soul sits in council; ponders past, Predestines future action. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xix. (1873) 441 The white man who seems predestined to inherit the country. 1868 Lynch Rivulet clvii. iii, Within the egg how darkly lies Even the bird of paradise, Predestined for the sunniest skies! |
† 2. loosely. To betoken infallibly beforehand; to presage irrevocably. Obs. rare.
| 1647 Cowley Mistr., Tree v, Alas, poor Youth, thy Love will never thrive! This blasted Tree Predestines it. |
Hence preˈdestine ppl. a. (rare); preˈdestined ppl. a., destined or appointed beforehand; fated, doomed; preˈdestining vbl. n.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 179 Þe secounde persone of God..bringiþ wiþ him a grace þat clerkes clepen predestynynge. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. ii. 26 How happie floods are yee, From our predestin'd plagues that priuiledged bee. 1624 Massinger Parl. Love iv. v, And that rich merchants, advocates, and doctors,..were Predestined cuckolds. 1740 C. Pitt æneid ii. 169 He..Doom'd to the slaughter my predestin'd head. a 1825 in Hone Every-day Bk. I. 338 Predestinings of joy. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iii. 158 Marked out in the eyes of all men as the predestined heirs of Charles. 1962 A. Huxley Island xiii. 204 These people are the propagandist's predestine victims. |