modify, v.
(ˈmɒdɪfaɪ)
Also 4–7 modefie, -fy(e.
[a. F. modifier (14th c.), ad. L. modificāre, -ārī to limit, moderate, f. mod-us mode: see -fy.]
† 1. trans. To limit, restrain, keep within bounds and measure. Obs.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 157 A king after the reule is holde To modifie and to adresce Hise yiftes upon such largesce That he mesure noght excede. Ibid. 233 The reule of Policie, Wherof a king schal modefie The fleisschly lustes of nature. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 341/1 Modyfyyn, or settyn yn mene cowrse of resone. |
† b. To appease, assuage. Obs.
| 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas ix. xxxi[i]. (1494) G iij b, Tyrauntys hertis thys vertue doth appese, Modefyeth their cruell fell wodenesse. 1433 ― St. Edmund ii. 857 Thus kan the lord..The rage of beestis appese and modifie. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. i. xi. 21 b, [Orpheus] by the swetenes of his armony delited and modefied the grosse hartis and rude myndes of men. |
† c. refl. To control one's feelings. Obs.
| 1530 Palsgr. 639/2, I modyfye, I temperate, je me modifie...What thoughe he speke a hastye worde you muste modyfye your selfe. |
2. To alter in the direction of moderation or lenity; to make less severe, rigorous, or decided; to qualify, tone down, moderate. (Tends to merge in the wider sense 4.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1684 Wherfore to shapen þat they shal nat dye He wolde his firste purpos modifye. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 24376, I..prayed hym..that he wold..modefyen his vengeaunce, and to with-drawe his lugement. c 1480 Henryson Test. Cress. 299 The pane of Cresseid for to modify. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxiv. (Percy Soc.) 174 Your hasty dome loke that ye modefy. 1610 Donne Pseudo-martyr 184 For so Mariana modefies his Doctrine, that the Prince should not execute any Clergy man, though hee deserue it. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. iv. xxv, The great has terrour for its basis; which, when it is modified, causes that emotion in the mind, which I have called astonishment. 1813 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) X. 382 Upon the whole I conceive that it would be best for the court to modify their sentence. 1819 Byron Juan ii. lxiii, They did their best to modify their case. 1859 Lang Wand. India 402 There is generally a light breeze to modify the heat. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 264 In fairy tales..inconsistencies are..modified and softened down. 1873 M. E. Braddon Milly Darrell xii, I suppose that medicine was intended to modify those attacks of sickness from which she has suffered so much. |
3. a. Philos. To determine (a substance or other entity) into a particular ‘mode’ or modes; to give (an object) its particular modality or form of being.
| a 1643 S. Ward in Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. iii. vi. 191 That the previous Concurse of God, as the first cause, doth according to its mode modifie and determine al the actions of second causes. 1678 Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. iii. vi. 190 He doth by a particular efficacious concurse so modifie and determine the entitative act, as that the natural specification and individuation thereof may be ascribed to him as the God of Nature. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Modify,..In Philosophy, to give the Modality or manner of Existence. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Spinozism, Whence it follows, that the substance modified by the square figure cannot be the same substance with that modified by the round figure. |
† b. gen. To differentiate into a variety of forms; to distinguish or diversify by investing with specific characteristics. Obs. (merged in 4).
| 1669 Holder Elem. Speech 32 They [‘letters’] modify and discriminate the Voice without appearing to discontinue it. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xviii. §3 Sounds..are modified by diversity of notes of different length put together, which make that complex idea called a tune. Ibid. §6 Some others of the simple ideas..have been thus modified to a great variety of complex ideas. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 278 More than twice Seven Plates are differently Modified to invite the Palate to Luxury. 1704 Newton Opticks (1721) 101 And therefore the differences of these Colours from one another do not arise from the different Confines of Shadow, whereby Light is variously modified, as has hitherto been the Opinion of Philosophers. 1777 Sir W. Jones Ess. Imit. Arts Poems, etc. 207 As the passions are differently modified in different men. |
4. To make partial changes in; to change (an object) in respect of some of its qualities; to alter or vary without radical transformation.
| 1780 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 387, I confess I see no cause to change, or to modify, my opinion on that subject. 1791 Fearne Cont. Remainders (ed. 4) I. 108 Words of limitation operate by reference to or connection with other words, and extend or modify the estate given by those other words. 1798 Malthus Popul. iii. vii. (1806) II. 211 Others employ themselves in modifying the raw materials of nature into the forms best suited to the gratification of man. 1834 Tait's Mag. I. 184/1 Measures of improvement so often mutilated, or, as the word is, ‘modified’ [by the House of Lords]. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 321 There are, however, some important parts of his character still to be noted, which will greatly modify this estimate. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. iv. 18 The Crown must either assent to or reject bills in Parliament, but cannot modify them. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. xvii. 273 The agents which are now at work in modifying the crust of the earth. |
b. To alter so as to adapt (to). rare.
| 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 514 Every medical man..will know how to modify its dose and formula to the existing circumstances of his patient. |
5. Scots Law. To assess, decree (a payment of money, a fine, costs); to award (a payment) to a person; esp. to determine the amount of a parish minister's stipend. † Also absol.
| 1457 Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 51/1 Vnder sik payne and vnlawe as þe barone or lorde sall modify. 1524 Extracts Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 108 To pass and modefy the provest and Johne Colisonis expensis. 1539 Ibid. 160 The provest and bailzeis..modefiit ane mendis for the said myspersonyng, as efter followis. 1569 Acts Gen. Assemb. Ch. Scotl. (Maitland Cl.) I. 164 Every Superintendent..shall modifie the stipends, augment or diminish the same, as occasione shall serve. 1583 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 598 [The Lords of Council therefore] modifiis to hir the sowme of twentie schillingis to be paid to hir. 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 351, I receiued in compensation of my abuses..fifty Florentine Crownes of gold, being modified by the Duke him selfe. 1752 J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 118 May it therefore please your Lordship..to modify the Sum for which your Petitioners are to find Bail. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 53 A commission of Parliament was appointed..for..modifying stipends to ministers out of the teinds. 1833 Act 3 & 4 Will. IV c. 46 §117 Such penalty..may be recovered by summary complaint to the sheriff..with such expences therefor as shall be modified by him. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v. Modification, The stipend..must be modified in grain or victual, and paid in money. |
6. Gram. a. To limit or qualify the sense of (a word, phrase, or sentence).
| 1727–41 [see modificative n.]. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 72/1 The usual effect of adjectives..is to modify or particularise a general term. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. I. 70/1 The adverb..is used to modify an adjective, or a verb, or another adverb. |
b. To change (a vowel) by ‘umlaut’.
| 1845 J. M. Kemble in Proc. Philol. Soc. II. 138 The short u continues to represent the Gothic u..where it has not been dulled into o, or modifed by a following i or ë into y. |
7. Cryst. (See quot.)
| 1823 H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 24 The new planes produced by decrements are denominated secondary planes, and the primary form, when altered in shape by the interference of secondary planes, is said to be modified on the edges or angles on which the secondary planes have been produced. Ibid. 96 Crystals rarely present themselves under their respective primary forms; they are usually modified by new planes, producing secondary crystals. |