| 释义 |
▪ I. reform, n.|rɪˈfɔːm|
[f. next, or ad. F. réforme (1640) = Sp. reforma, It. riforma.]
1. a. The amendment, or altering for the better, of some faulty state of things, esp. of a corrupt or oppressive political institution or practice; the removal of some abuse or wrong.
1663Butler Hud. i. ii. 538 No Sow-gelder..but cry'd Reform! 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Reform, Reforming, Reformation. 1730–6Bailey (folio), Reform,..a reestablishment or revival of a former neglected discipline; also a correction of reigning abuses. 1786H. More Florio Dramas, etc. (1827) 181 He said when any change was brewing, Reform was a fine name for ruin. 1820Shelley Œd. Tyr. i. 113 Bœotia, choose reform or civil war! 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India II. 118 His unwilling consent..rendered him still more than ever hostile to all projects of reform. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 80 Reform was needed, and not total abolition.
b. A particular instance of such amendment; a change for the better.
1781Cowper Conversat. 804 Great changes..have occurred, And blest reforms, that I have never heard. 1795Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 58 This new constitution of theirs, which had been announced as a great reform. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 209 To reduce those endowments..would have been a reform worthy of a good prince and of a good parliament. 1883Law Times 20 Oct. 408/1 The public and the Profession were alike urgent in calling for sweeping reforms.
c. ellipt. (with capital initial), the Reform Club (see 6 a below).
1853London Clubs 51 The Reform Club. Next [to Boodle's] in order amongst political clubs stands the Reform, although we are not sure that it is not surpassed in seniority by its great rival..the Carlton. Both had their origin in the exciting era of 1830, and the Reform Bill. 1860A. J. Munby Diary 18 Mar. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 56, I feel no interest in..Reform and Carlton conflicts. 1886B. Potter Jrnl. 14 Jan. (1966) 163 It was rumoured yesterday, 13th, that Morley was going to leave the Reform. Harrison has left the Athenaeum. 1940H. Nicolson Let. 14 July (1967) 102, I dined..at the Reform and we listened afterwards to Winston. 1978G. Greene Human Factor iii. i. 97 They made a habit of lunching alternately at the Reform and the Travellers once a month on a Saturday.
2. a. Amendment of conduct; reformation of persons or character.
1784Cowper Task ii. 321 What vice has it subdued? whose heart reclaimed By rigour, or whom laughed into reform? Ibid. v. 618 Remorse begets reform. 1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 155/2 Institutions auxiliary to those for Punishment (Houses of Reform).
b. reform through labour [tr. Chinese láodòng gǎizào], in China, an element of ideological reformation whereby criminals and dissidents are made to work as a part of their political re-education.
1957P. S. H. Tang Communist China Today v. 247 The theoretical basis for the policy of ‘reform through labor’ was stated by Mao Tse-tung in his 1949 report On People's Democratic Dictatorship..promising that ‘reactionaries’ who desisted from counter-revolutionary activities would not be put to death but would be given work in order to ‘reform themselves through labour so as to become new men’. 1962E. Snow Red China Today (1963) xxi. 156 He inspects reform-through-labour farms. Ibid. xlvii. 361 No one is entitled to assume that ‘reform through labor’ in China is administered by humanitarians. 1977China Now July/Aug. 13/3 Bao spent seven years undergoing Reform Through Labour (Lao Dong Gai Zao) having been arrested in 1957.
3. Improvement or rectifying of something faulty or inexact.
1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Wealth, Roger Bacon explained precession of the equinoxes, [and] the consequent necessity of the reform of the calendar.
4. a. A religious order created by the reduction of another to stricter observances. Also (with capital initial) preceded by designating adj. rare.
Copied by Chambers from the Dict. de Trévoux (1721).
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., In this sense the order of St. Bernard is said to be only a reform of that of St. Benedict. 1869Chambers' Encycl. s.v. Recollet, A reform of the Cistercian order of nuns in Spain was called by the same name. 1873Lady G. C. Fullerton Life L. de Carvajal ii. viii. 243 Her beloved friends..were both nuns of the Augustinian Reform. 1893Mod. Lang. Notes VIII. 344 (heading) History and texts of the Benedictine reform of the tenth century. 1911A. Brennan St. Lawrence of Brindisi xvi. 147 The Fathers of St. Giles, who belonged to the Alcantarine Reform, were delighted to receive him [sc. Father Lawrence] as their guest. 1953K. Sisam Stud. Hist. Old Eng. Lit. vi. ii. 106 The second half of the tenth century was the period of the Benedictine Reform.
†b. A reformed person. Obs. rare.
1756T. Amory Buncle (1770) I. 118, I became a thorough reform from that hour.
†5. Mil. A discharge or dismissal. Obs. rare—1.
1698Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 416 Another reform of 25 men more will be made out of each troop of guards, which will reduce them to 150 each troop.
6. a. attrib., as reform or Reform Convention, reform Democrat, reform League, reform mayor, reform movement, reform Parliament, reform party, reform politician, reform school; Reform Act or Bill, an act or bill to amend the system of parliamentary representation, especially those brought in and passed in 1831–2; Reform Club, a club instituted to promote (usu. political) reform; spec. the name of a London club in Pall Mall founded in 1836; Reform(ed) Neutral Philol., an international language developed by Rosenberger and de Wahl from Idiom Neutral (see idiom 5); reform school orig. U.S., a reformatory for young persons.
1832F. N. Rogers (title) Parliamentary Reform Act, 2 Will. 4. c. 45. With notes.
1831(title) A Chart exhibiting a list of the Names of the Majority and Minority, on the Second Reading of the English Reform Bill.
1835Times 16 June 5/6 People have heard of the Middlesex Reform Club. It seems that this formidable ‘corporation’ is on the eve of dissolution. 1837Times 27 Nov. 5/1 A numerous meeting of Whig-Radical members of the House of Commons was held to-day (Saturday), at 12 o'clock, at the Reform Club-house, Pall-mall. 1877Public Acts Michigan 42 Reform club temperance societies may be incorporated in pursuance of the provisions of this act. 1884B. Potter Jrnl. 22 Feb. (1966) 68 Lord Rollo..is a member of the Reform Club, but seldom goes. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 42 One of the Reform Club dinners at which Charles Snow took the chair and captivated Harold Wilson.
1851Documentary Hist. Amer. Industr. Society (1910) VIII. 317 A National Reform Convention is however to be held. 1887Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 8 Feb. 1/2 (heading) The Reform Democrats manage to get Mr. Randall into very deep water.
1866Bright Sp., Reform 27 Aug. (1876) 377, I am not afraid of the principles of the Reform League.
1968Listener 5 Sept. 290/1 His machine had just taken a terrible beating at the hands of a reform mayor.
1839J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. XXXII. 476 The question is not now about particular reforms, but how to carry on the Reform movement. 1922A. L. Guérard Short. Hist. Internat. Lang. Movement ii. vi. 139 Reformed-Neutral of 1907 looked more natural than the primitive form. The restitution of international c wherever it had been replaced by s or k greatly improved the appearance of the language. But one of the most obvious blemishes of the Idiom was not corrected: the accumulation of final consonants as in nostr. Ibid. viii. 172 He [sc. Prof. Peano] is, like Dr. Molenaar, and like Messrs. Rosenberger and de Wahl in their Reform-Neutral, a radical, a posteriorist. 1946H. Jacob On Choice Common Lang. iii. 27 Idiom Neutral, the early product of the Akademi, under the influence of Rosenberger and de Wahl, soon became Reform-Neutral, and when Rosenberger died de Wahl carried on his studies until, in 1922, he published his own system, Occidental.
1862C. Knight Pop. Hist. Eng. VIII. xvii. 310 The dreaded Reform Parliament was to assemble at the end of January, 1833.
1839J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. XXXII. 477 No reformer can hope to realize any reforms of importance, but by means of a strong and united Reform party. 1851Borrow Lavengro c, I think of the two, the liberal or reform party were the most inveterate. 1970D. Goldrich et al. in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. v. 189 It is much more common for ‘reform’ parties to symbolize the peasant as the forgotten.
1904A. French Barrier iii. 22 The reform politicians, those bees who buzzed continually and occasionally stung, had been after the young man.
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. 359 Reform School. 1860C. E. DeLong Jrnl. 7 Dec. in Calif. Hist. Soc. Q. (1931) X. 258 In the afternoon a crowd of us went out to view the site of the [state] Reform School [for boys]. 1913J. London Valley of Moon i. 3 An' her with seven, an' two of 'em in reform school. 1958New Statesman 6 Sept. 294/3 A reform-school boy whose criminal side has been straightened up by the analysts. 1973J. Cleary Ransom i. 12 Even the Police Commissioner's wife didn't go to finishing school—some of us reckon he found her in a reform school.
b. Reform Judaism, a liberalizing movement initiated in Germany by the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729–86), to accommodate the Jewish faith to the European intellectual enlightenment. Also in various related attrib. collocations, as Reform Jew, Reform party, Reform Synagogue, etc. Occas. ellipt. as predic. adj.
In Britain, Reform Judaism occupies a middle position between Orthodox and Liberal Judaism.
1843Voice of Jacob 27 Oct. 21/2 The Frankfort Reform Association..meets with great sympathy among a large portion of the Jews here... The Anti-reform party..seriously proposes to counteract the..‘reformers’ in an honourable manner. 1844Southern Q. Rev. Apr. 325 The Reform party maintain that the old written law,—the law of Moses and the Prophets, is the only divine..law, but that the Talmud and the decisions of the Rabbins..are not divine. Ibid. 333 An important effort was made in London..establishing a Reform Synagogue. 1845Voice of David 15 Aug. 219/1 The ‘Berlin Reform Association’..is said to have declared..that should the Synod not agree with its (the Reform Association's) views, the latter would independently pursue its own course. 1860N.Y. Times 6 Aug. 8/3 The innovations of the ‘reform party’..which he [sc. Rabbi Isaacs] attributed to religious pride... The congregation..remained uncontaminated by these pretended reforms. 1870R. D-C. Lewin What is Judaism? 8 The signal triumphs which have attended the efforts of the Reform School of Judaism. Ibid., Charitable institutions which are so largely supported by Reform Jews. 1892I. Zangwill Childr. Ghetto III. 36 The paper was founded to inculcate..the principles of true Judaism... But this is rank Reform; it's worse than the papers we came to supersede. Ibid. 143 The Reform Synagogue, though a centre of culture and prosperity, was cold, crude, and devoid of magnetism. 1916H. Sacher Zionism & Jewish Future 48 Why should not all Jews recover their spiritual unity through Reform Judaism? 1959Tamarack Rev. Summer 12 Try to convince Gershon that she'd joined the Orthodoxes in protest against her sons' becoming Anglican-like Reform Jews. 1966‘A. Blaisdell’ Date with Death xvi. 208, I never was very religious, we were Reform but not much given to..keeping up with temple. 1977H. Fast Immigrants iv. 238 What about the Reform Jews? The capacity of the rich is always larger than the capacity of the poor. 1980Times 18 July 4/3 It is intended to broadcast a service from a Reform synagogue in London..the first occasion that an established non-Christian religious service has been included in the regular output.
▪ II. reform, v.1|rɪˈfɔːm|
Also 4 refoorme, reffourme, 4–7 refourme.
[ad. OF. reformer (12th c.; mod.F. réformer), or L. reformāre, f. re- re- + formāre to form; hence also Sp. reformar, It. riformare.
For early examples of the purely literal sense ‘to form again’, see v.2]
†1. trans. To renew, restore, re-establish (peace).
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. 3 This name Ihesu..wastys discorde, reformes pese. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 103 Pees was reformed in þis manere [L. pax reformata est]. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 182/1 In theyr solempnytees pees was reformed bytwene the lombardes and the emperour of Rome. 1556Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 16 That pesse shulde be reformyd be-twene Yngland and France.
†2.
a. To convert, bring back, or restore (a thing or person) to the original form or state, or to a previous condition. Obs.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. 14 Whene þe myghtes of þe saule er refourmede by grace to þe dignyte and þe state of þe firste condicione. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints v. (John) 136 Sancte Iohne..tuk vpe þe pecis small, and..be his prayere þar fut-hate reformyt þam to þe fyrste state. 1390Gower Conf. I. 144 His mannes forme aȝein he tok, And was reformed to the regne In which that he was wont to regne. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 206 Suche as be pensyff make hem glad and murye, Distrauhte in thouhte refourme hem to resoun. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) v. 120 What reformyth the sovle to his first light? Ibid. 127 Baptem..reformyth the soule..to the glorious lykenesse of god eternall. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 815/2 It is true nowe that God is reuealed to vs when he reformeth vs to his image.
b. Without const. To restore (a person) to a normal state of mind, or to consciousness. Obs.
1382Wyclif 1 Sam. xvi. 23 Dauid took an harp, and smoot with hys hoond, and Saul was refourmyd [L. refocillabatur], and liȝter he hadde. ― Judith xiii. 30 [xiv. 7] After forsothe that, the spirit taken aȝeen, he is reformed [L. recreatus], he fel doun to hir feet, and honourede hir.
†3. To restore (a building) after destruction, decay, or damage; to rebuild, repair. Obs.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurence) 582 Lumbardis had brynt it in were... Þane gat he men of craft to wyrk & to reforme þis haly kyrk. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. iii. (1520) 23 b/2 He refourmed the temple of God better and encreased the cytee of Jherusalem. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 57 The castell..was reformit againe new better nor it was befoir. 1606Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. lxxxvii, Reforming first their thrise-reard wall. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 101 Seat worthier of Gods, as built With second thoughts, reforming what was old!
4. a. To convert into another and better form; to amend or improve by some change of form, arrangement, or composition; to free from previous faults or imperfections. † Also const. unto, into. Now rare.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 378 Þen carppez to syr Gawan þe knyȝt in þe grene, ‘Refourme we oure for-wardes, er we fyrre passe’. 1382Wyclif Phil. iii. 21 Oure Lord Jhesu Crist, the which schal refoorme the body of oure mekenesse. c1450Holland Howlat 77 His halynace Throw prayer may purchace To reforme my foule face. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 24 §1 Panells..shall herafter be refourmed by addicions and taking oute of names of persones by discrecion of the same Justices. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 315 The Water of Baptisme by the working of the holy Ghost, is reformed vnto a Diuine power. 1589Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 79 Those eyes, faire eyes, too faire to be describde, Were those that earst the Chaos did reforme. 1615W. Lawson Orch. & Gard. xi. (1623) 34 Neither let any man euer so much as thinke,..it is vnprobable..to reforme any tree. 1634W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I) 208 He would needes reforme all the fortifications of those strong places we passed by; he trode on no earth at which he carped not. 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 1030 'Tis prudence to reform her into ease. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Calendar, Romulus's calendar was reformed by Numa, who added two more months. 1769Sir W. Jones Palace Fortune Poems (1777) 23 Describ'd the seasons, and reform'd the year. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 26 Persons who have been disfigured..have it in their power to reform their looks. 1853J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. ii. 95 He patronised learning and poetry, and he reformed the calendar.
absol.1340Ayenb. 81 Þis uayrhede..reformeþ and agrayþeþ and him yelt his ryȝte pryente.
†b. To correct, emend (a book, writing, chart, etc.); to recast, improve by revision and alteration. Obs.
1498in Archæol. Jrnl. XLIII. 169 Pd..for mendyng and reformyng an Article of our ordinances viijd. 1528in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xiv. 249 To peruse, oversee, examyne, Refourme, & correcte suche Bookes and ordynaunces. 1568North Gueuara's Dial. Pr. (ed. 2) title-p., Now newly revised and corrected.., refourmed of faultes escaped in the first edition. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iii. 320, I would..Correct those errors in Navigation, reforme Cosmo⁓graphicall Chartes, and rectifie longitudes. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 489 Geffery Chaucer, whose life is written at large, by Thomas Speght, (who by old copies, reformed his workes). 1705Hearne Collect. 8 Sept. (O.H.S.) I. 42 The original Author of the Private Devotions, wch Dr. Hicks..reform'd. c1779R. Cumberland in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 412, I have reformed the passages you pointed out and..written a Prologue.
c. Law. To revise and amend a judgement (obs.); to allow an instrument to be corrected or construed according to the original intention, when an error has been committed in it.
c1670Hobbes Dial. Com. Laws (1681) 63 Erroneous Judgments are only to be reform'd by the High Court of Parliament. 1755N. Magens Insurances I. 440 His Majesty is disposed..to have the Judgement reformed, in case the Pleas of the adverse Party, so suing, should be found valid. 1824Simons & Stuart Rep. Cases Chanc. I. 210 marg., A Court of Equity will reform an Instrument which, by the mistake of the Drawer, admits of a construction inconsistent with the true Agreement of the Parties, although the Party seeking to reform it himself drew the Instrument.
5. a. To make a change for the better in (an arrangement, state of things, practice or proceeding, institution, etc.); to amend or improve by removal of faults or abuses.
1432Rolls of Parlt. IV. 405/1 To have ye saide first Statute of newe refourmed. 1494Fabyan Chron. II. l, Callynge a counsayl he refourmed many thynges for the weale of hys realme. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 180 b, Howe the state of the weale publike, as well ciuile, as ecclesiasticall maye or ought to be reformed [L. emendari]. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. viii. §4 There hath arisen a sect in England, which..seeketh to reform even the French reformation. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 177 To doe no more than reforme the Common-wealth. 1727Gay Fables i. xiv, A Monkey to reform the times, Resolv'd to visit foreign climes. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xlix. V. 155 After a long series of scandal, the apostolic see was reformed and exalted by the austerity and zeal of Gregory VII. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 121 He was bound by the concessions he made in 1489 to reform the administration of justice. 1867Smiles Huguenots Eng. i. (1880) 2 There were many eminent churchmen who sought to reform it [the Church] from within.
absol.1480Bury Wills (Camden) 63 And the seid priour of the same monasterie to refourme and to make a direccion therof. 1643Denham Cooper's H. 116 May no such storm Fall on our Times, where ruine must reform. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. (1890) I. 49 A body of members anxious to preserve, and a body eager to reform.
†b. ironically. To alter to a worse state. Obs.
1649C. Walker Relat. & Observ. ii. 35 For, in the interim, they garrisoned Black Fryars and S. Pauls, reforming it, from the Church of God, to a den of thieves, &c.
c. To take away, remove entirely, by (or by way of) reformation.
1660South Serm. Matt. xiii. 52 In those Days, when the Revenues of the Church were not wholly reformed from it. 1694Atterbury Serm. 1 Peter iv. 8 (1726) I. 78 Our Adversaries..who cry'd us down, as Men that were Reforming away Good Works. 1897Labouchere in Daily News 17 Mar. 3/7 His idea of reform was to reform the Armenians off the face of the globe.
6. a. To put a stop or end to (an abuse, disorder, malpractice, etc.) by enforcing or introducing a better procedure or conduct; † to amend (a fault committed).
1390Gower Conf. III. 136 Wherof full many a gret debat Reformed is to good astat. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 21 If reson ne had reffourmed the myssecheff and the mysserule. c1430Stans Puer ad Mensam 89 (Lamb. MS.), A rodde reformeþ al her necligence. 1530Palsgr. 682/2 If I have done any thynge amysse, I wyll reforme it. 1545Brinklow Compl. 6 Such abuses as are to be reformed in the realme. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. ii. 28 Sir Artegall undid the evill fashion, And wicked customes of that Bridge refourmed. 1619Sir R. Naunton in Fortescue Papers (Camden) 96 The best remedies they can for reforming what they find faultie. 1687T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 83, I am resolved..to reform these disorders. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iii. (1841) I. 63 We are resolved to reform several practices..in their behaviour. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. i, He could reform every abuse.
†b. (Chiefly Sc.) To repair, redress (a wrong, loss, damage, etc.), to make up, make good. Obs.
1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 185 To reforme all harmes and scathis that suld be done throu his men. 1461Paston Lett. II. 15 Seyng they have had gret wrong, besechyng my Lorde that it myght be reformed. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 459 Beseikand him..to reforme the greit dampnage and cryme Tha had sustenit. 1549Compl. Scot. ix. 77 Ther eftir thai reformit the distructione of the tempil. 1609Skene Reg. Maj., Forme of Proces 126 b, Vntill..he be summoned,..and his expenses payed and reformed to him.
c. To correct, put right (an error or mistake).
1542–3Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 27 §113 Al errours in plees personall shalbe reformed by billes, to be sued before the saied presidente. 1571Digges Pantom. iii. xi. R iv b, But if ye finde any discrepance or variaunce betweene them, ye shall by the ayde of some skilfull Artificer refourme it in the lesser. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 445 Young heads are giddy,..And make mistakes for manhood to reform.
†d. To remove (a fault or blemish) by some treatment. Obs. rare.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. (Arb.) 293 Euery man may..reforme by arte, the faultes and imperfections that nature hath wrought in them. 1675Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 290 Then we bare your body to the fleet, And there the blemishes thereof reform With water fair and warm.
7. a. To bring, lead, or force (a person) to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, etc., and adopt a right one; to bring about a thorough amendment in (a person, his conduct, etc.).
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) ii. lii. (1859) 54 Sathan..myght not be refourmyd by cause of his vnchangeabylyte. 1494Fabyan Chron. v. lxxxiii. 61, ii. holy Byshoppes..came into Brytaygne to refourme the Kynge, and al other that erryd from the waye of trouth. 1535Coverdale Prov. v. 23 Because he wolde not be refourmed, he shal dye. 1575–85Abp. Sandys Serm. 60 Those wilful cubbes, which neither by teaching nor by example will be reformed must feele the smart of the rod. 1631Gouge God's Arrows i. §46. 81 What usurer, what deceiver is reformed by this Plague? 1680Burnet Rochester (1692) 61 A man is never thoroughly reformed till a new principle governs his thoughts. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iv. (1841) I. 84 Will you call my father's desire to reform your life, a putting hard upon you? 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 540 As we must not go to ruin the men whom we wish to reform. 1819Shelley Cenci i. i. 74 You give out that you have half reformed me. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. p. xxxi, Far be it from us to discourage any effort made to reform juvenile offenders. 1871Ruskin Fors Clav. ix. 6, I have not the slightest intention..of setting myself to mend or reform people.
b. Const. from, † of, † to, † unto.
1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 204 He rebukid the forsayden breenys and bourkeyns..and ham to Pees reformed. c1450Holland Howlat 875 To reforme the Howlat, of faltis full fell. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 16 To reforme the euyl disposed vnto goodnesse. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece iii. xi. (1715) 99 The Grecians were much reform'd from the Inhumanity..of their own Ancestors. 1714Swift Pres. St. Aff. Wks. 1755 II. i. 214 The house of Hanover..is the nearest branch of our regal line reformed from popery. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. x. i. (1872) III. 204 Lieutenant Buddenbrock..is now reformed from those practices.
†c. To reprove, punish, chastise (a person) for some fault. Obs.
1484Caxton Fables of æsop ii. Pref., By cause they were not customed to be refourmed ne chastysed, whan ony of them was corrected and punysshed, they were gretely troubled. 1535Coverdale Jonah (heading), Ionas is angrie, and complayneth of God which refourmeth him. 1577Harrison England ii. iv. (1877) i. 103 At these meetings also..roges, and runnagates, are often reformed for their excesses. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. i. 21 He..The lady to alight did eft require, Whilest he reformed that uncivill fo.
d. refl. (also with heart, life, etc. as obj.) To improve one's own conduct, character, etc.
1512Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 19 Preamble, The seid Frensche Kyng..the Decree of the enterdiccion dispysyng will not therby reforme himselfe. 1535Coverdale 2 Esdras xiv. 34 Yf so be that ye wil subdue youre owne vnderstandinge, and refourme youre hert [etc.]. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. v. 72 And as we heare you do reforme your selues, We will according to your strength, and qualities, Giue you aduancement. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. i. (1840) 14 How justly might they bid him hold his tongue, and go and reform his life, before he pretended to instruct them.
transf.1552Latimer Serm. & Rem. (Parker Soc.) 182 The wind and waters obeyed him, and reformed themselves according to his word.
†8. To instruct, inform (a person). Obs. rare.
1535Coverdale Isa. xl. 12 Who hath refourmed [1611 directed] the mynde of the Lorde? Or who is of his councel to teach him? 1560Becon New Catech. ii. Wks. 1564 I. 312 The Prophete Esaye also sayeth, who hath refourmed the Spiryte of the Lorde?
†9.
a. Hawking. (See quot.) Obs. rare—1.
1486Bk. St. Albans A vj b, Sum tyme yowre hawke countenansis as she piked hir, and yet she proynith not, and then ye most say she Reformith hir federis and not piketh hir federis.
b. To cut down or back to a desired length; to trim, prune. Obs.
1574R. Scot Hop Gard. (1578) 17 You must pyle them vp immediately after they are cut, sharped, reformed in length and smoothed. 1615W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 35 Snub his top..with a sharpe knife, and take him cleane away, and so you may vse any Cyon you would reforme. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 625 We must be ris'n And at our pleasant labour, to reform Yon flourie Arbors. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 605 Shall we doubt..To sow, to set, and to reform their growth?
c. To bring into a better state, to improve.
1607Norden Surv. Dial. v. 237 This peece of ground..hath had much labour and great cost bestowed on it, and the ground little or nothing the more reformed.
†10. Mil. [After F. réformer.] To form into a new regiment or company; to break up, partially or completely, for this purpose; hence also, to disband, dismiss from the service. Obs.
1604E. Grimstone Hist. Siege Ostend 188 He hath casziered and dismissed aboue 600 men, as well Commanders and Sargeants, as commissaries and Treasurers,..hee hath also reformed the common souldiers. 1629Wadsworth Pilgr. vii. 71 His regiment being reformed into one company, was giuen to Captaine Rhisby. 1664Pepys Diary 31 Oct., If you must reform two of them, be sure let him command the troop that is left. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., In Military Affairs, to Reform, is to reduce a Body of Men, either disbanding the Whole, and putting the Officers and Soldiers into other Bodies, or only breaking a Part, and retaining the rest. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. II. 51 (Le Patissier) At the conclusion of the last peace, his regiment being reformed,..he found himself..without a livre.
11. intr. (for refl.) To abandon wrong-doing or error; to free oneself from misconduct or fault.
1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xxi. 54 The Catuall did reforme, and make himselfe friendes with him. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §3 We have reformed from them, not against them. 1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 356 How necessary it is to reform from the Roman impurities. 1736Butler Anal. i. iii. 47 Those who have gone on for some time in the ways of Vice, and have afterwards reformed. 1769Junius Lett. xiv. 61 It is possible the young man may, in time, grow wiser and reform. 1865Pusey Truth Eng. Ch. 80 If..the Church of England reformed by herself [etc.]. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 637 He reformed and rose to the rank of Ealdorman.
12. Also re-form. To subject (petrol, hydrocarbons, etc.) to reforming vbl. n. 2.
1924Proc. 31st Ann. Convention Pacific Coast Gas Assoc. 724 The artificial gas portion of the commercial mixture may be manufactured by ‘reforming’ natural gas rather than by producing this gas from oil. 1931U.S. Bureau of Mines Techn. Paper No. 483. 1 There is a definite demand for a means and process for re-forming hydrocarbon gases, including refinery gas. 1941W. L. Nelson Petroleum Refinery Engin. (ed. 2) xxiv. 527 These authors conclude that it is not economical to top the light gasoline and reform the naphtha separately. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XI. 403/2 In a typical operation, a Pennsylvania straight-run gasoline of 44 octane number may be reformed to give a product with an octane number of 80..with a yield of 66%. 1974Sci. Amer. Oct. 67/2 The carbohydrates decay exoergically to form fossil fuels such as methane..which can then be re-formed endoergically to yield hydrogen gas. |