galvanize, v.
(ˈgælvənaɪz)
Also -ise.
[ad. F. galvaniser: see galvanism and -ize.]
1. trans. To apply galvanism to; to stimulate by means of a galvanic current. Also absol.
| 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 259 The heat is likewise increased in the part which is galvanised. 1825 Syd. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 203 Galvanise a frog, don't galvanise a tiger. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. (1858) 142 Those spasmodic, galvanic sprawlings are not life; neither indeed will they endure, galvanise as you may, beyond two days. 1839–47 Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 41/2, I galvanized a little boy with paralysis of the left leg. 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ix. 117 You may galvanize the nerve of a corpse till the action of a limb startles the spectator with the appearance of life. |
b. fig. esp. in phrase
to galvanize to or into life (also
to galvanize life into).
| 1853 C. Brontë Villette iii, Her approach always galvanized him to new and spasmodic life. 1869 Goulburn Purs. Holiness xxi. 203 She would fain galvanize the soul into life by a sudden shock. 1880 Daily News 9 Jan. 3/1 To galvanise a little more life into the market. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 537/1 A very old inn, that seemed suffering the first pangs of being galvanized back to life and modernity. |
2. To cover with a coating of metal by means of galvanic electricity. Commonly but incorrectly applied to the coating of iron with zinc to protect it from rusting, though no galvanic process is ordinarily employed.
| 1839 [see galvanized ppl. a. 2]. 1864 Webster, Galvanize, to plate, as with gold, silver, &c., by means of galvanism. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 230 Zinc..is employed as a protecting covering for iron, which when thus coated is said to be galvanized. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. i. 61/2 The wire is ‘galvanised’ or coated with metallic zinc. |
| absol. 1892 Workshop Receipts 287 It is an advantage, with all sheets thicker than 20 gauge, to galvanize after corrugation. |