reclaim
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈkleɪm/
ipa: /ɹiːˈkleɪm/
Forms: form: reclaims
form: reclaiming
form: reclaimed
form: reclaimed
Etymology: From Middle English reclaymen, recleymen, reclamen, from Anglo-Norman reclamer (noun reclaim and Middle French reclamer (noun reclaim), from Latin reclāmō, reclāmāre. Equivalent to re- + claim.
Senses: glosses: To return land to a suitable condition for use.
glosses: To obtain useful products from waste; to recycle.
glosses: To claim something back; to repossess.
examples: text: His Highneſſe pleaſure is that he ſhould liue,
And be reclaim’d with princely lenitie.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:
text: Your errour, in time reclaimed, will be veniall.
ref: 1609, Edward Hoby, A Letter to Mr. T[heophilus] H[iggons], late Minister: now Fugitive ... in answere of his first Motive:
text: They, hardened more by what might most reclaim, / Grieving to see his glory […] took envy.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: It is the intention of Providence, in all the various expressions of his goodness, to reclaim mankind.
ref: a. 1729, John Rogers, The Goodness of God a Motive to Repentance:
glosses: To return someone to a proper course of action, or correct an error; to reform.
examples: text: an eagle well reclaimed
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To tame or domesticate a wild animal.
examples: text: They were the head-strong horses, who hurried Octavius […] along, and were deaf to his reclaiming them.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To call back from flight or disorderly action; to call to, for the purpose of subduing or quieting.
examples: text: True it is he was very wild in his youth till God (the best Chymick who can fix quicksilver it self) gratiously reclaim'd him
ref: 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC:
text: Scripture reclaims, and the whole Catholic church reclaims, and Christian ears would not bear it.
ref: 1719, Daniel Waterland, A Vindication of Christ's Divinit:
text: At a later period Grote reclaimed strongly against Mill's setting Whately above Hamilton.
ref: 1882, Alexander Bain, Biography of James Mill:
glosses: To cry out in opposition or contradiction; to exclaim against anything; to contradict; to take exceptions.
examples: text: Yet would he not perswaded be for ought,
Ne from his currish will a whit reclame.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: To draw back; to give way.
topics: law
glosses: To appeal from the Lord Ordinary to the inner house of the Court of Session.
examples: text: Once a term of homophobic abuse, the term “queer” has been reclaimed as a marker for some gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT), and other marginalized sexual identities.
topics: human-sciences
sciences
social-science
sociology
glosses: To bring back a term into acceptable usage, usually of a slur, and usually by the group that was once targeted by that slur.
Derived terms: reclaimable
reclaimableness
reclaimably
reclaimant
reclaimer
reclaimless