Indianizev.
/ˈɪndɪənʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈɪndiəˌnaɪz/ 1.
a. transitive. To make American Indian in character.
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1616 J. Deacon Tobacco Tortured 10 So many of our English-mens minds are thus..industriously Indianized with the intoxicating filthie fumes of Tobacco.
1827 H. M. Williams tr. A. von Humboldt Personal Narr. Trav. (ed. 2) V. xxi. 127 The missionaries..are afraid of employing..the native words which denote the Divinity... They choose rather to Indianize the Spanish word Dios.
1879 in S. Sewall Diary II. 375 (note) Competent authorities tell us that..on this continent, more than one hundred of the whites have been ‘Indianized’ to each single Indian who has been civilized.
1882 Standard No. 17972. 5 The polite mapmakers have done their best to Indianise the worst of them [sc. place-names given by settlers].
1941 Univ. of Maine Bull. Nov. 84 The fort and trading house here had made the name of George's so familiar that it was early adopted and Indianized.
1998 G. de la Peña in L. Bethell Lat. Amer. since 1930 v. 347 The goal was not to ‘Indianize’ the nation but to ‘Mexicanize’ the Indians.
b. intransitive. To become American Indian in character or appearance; to adopt the culture or lifestyle of American Indians.
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society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > civilization > lack of civilization > be or become uncivilized [verb (intransitive)]
Indianize1702
wilder1798
Hottentot1806
barbarize1824
to go native1901
1652 T. Thorowgood Digitvs Dei Ep. Ded. sig. a 3 So the Iewes did Indianize, or the Indians doe Iudaize, for surely they are alike in many, very many remarkable particulars.
1702 C. Mather Magnalia Christi vi. v. 35/2 We have shamefully Indianized in all those abominable Things.
1863 C. G. Leland Sunshine in Thought viii. 139 Some European physiologist believes that the Anglo-American is gradually Indianizing.
1906 W. G. Sumner Folkways (new ed.) ii. 84 In the early days of the settlement of North America many whites ‘Indianized’; they took to the mode of life of Indians.
2006 S. S. Parrish Amer. Curiosity ii. 96 Whenever colonists were said to Indianize, the implication was that they were succumbing to the natural inclination of the American environment.
2.
a. transitive. To make Indian in character or composition; (also) to make like India.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Asia > native or inhabitant of India > [verb (transitive)]
Indianize1837
Hinduize1850
1837 J. C. Maitland Let. 31 Oct. in Lett. from Madras (1843) 117 From having been completely heated through in the summer, I am now pretty well Indianized.
1860 Sci. Amer. 18 Aug. 117/2 The Hindoos..Indianized the science, and claimed for it an exaggerated antiquity in their own nature.
1887 Times 11 May 11/4 There is no higher praise possible than the reproach that we have Indianized Egypt.
1924 E. M. Forster Passage to India xxiv. 225 The invocation of Mrs. Moore continued... The syllables..became Indianized into Esmiss Esmoor.
1990 V. S. Naipaul India: Million Mutinies (1991) vii. 407 When the Times of India, British paper, was Indianized, they started Femina.
2003 Perspectives on Politics 1 693/1 Early efforts to desegregate and thereby Indianize the Indian army.
b. intransitive. To become Indian in character, appearance, or composition; (also) to act as an Indian.
ΚΠ
1861 Dublin Univ. Mag. July 16/1 ‘Rosa, for shame!’ cried Florence, ‘Indianising at this hour, after all your good intentions, too.’
1909 Burlington Mag. Mar. 354/1 Graeco-Roman art gradually Indianized.
1934 Times 1 May 7/2 Mr. Molson..asked if it was not a fact that it had been the accepted policy of the Imperial Bank of India..to Indianize as much as possible.
1986 A. Warren in J. M. MacKenzie Imperialism & Pop. Culture x. 249 There was an urgent need, if Scouting was to survive in India, for it to Indianise fully.
1998 Frederick (Maryland) Post 28 Jan. b8/1 The new ventures have had to Indianize to get attention, dubbing the US. television series ‘Baywatch’ into Hindi, for example.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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