localizev.
/ˈləʊkəlʌɪz/, /ˈləʊkl̩ʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈloʊkəˌlaɪz/ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > adaptability to circumstances > adapt to circumstances [verb (intransitive)]
temporize1555
accommodate1597
localizea1631
to piece in1636
attemper1807
trim1888
adapt1910
reorient1916
adjust1924
to trim one's sails to the wind1928
to roll with the punches1956
a1631 G. Harvey Marginalia (1913) 138 Erasmus and Dr. Perne will teach a man to Temporise and Localise at occasion.
2. transitive. To make local in character; to invest or imbue with the characteristics of a particular place or region; to adapt so as to suit a local audience or market.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > [verb (transitive)] > make local in character
localize1792
1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman iv. 123 May it not be fairly inferred that their [sc. the nobility's] local situation swallowed up the man, and produced a character similar to that of women, who are locallized, if I may be allowed the word, by the rank they are placed in, by courtesy?
a1796 R. Burns in R. H. Cromek Reliques (1808) 203 Songs, are always less or more localized (if I may be allowed the verb) by some of the modifications of time and place.
1845 Littell's Living Age 16 Aug. 317/1 Mr. Pirgivie had a happy knack at localizing and adapting resuscitated Joe Millers to present circumstances.
1866 Monthly Packet July 93 A Parish Magazine—this magazine being the well-known periodical of that name..localized for our own parish by the addition of a few pages devoted entirely to parish matters.
1929 Boys' Life June 74/3 Postmaster-General New is going to localize it by printing the name of the State on every stamp.
1994 Times 7 Oct. 31/6 In America it is unacceptable to sell product posing as a US title which has not been localised.
2009 Wired July 44/2 Cubans, many of whom study English in school, would be particularly good at ‘localizing’ US software for Latin American markets.
3. transitive. To associate with a particular place or location; to find or determine the location of, to locate. Also occasionally with to.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > [verb (transitive)] > assign or attribute to particular place
lay1576
locate1781
localize1797
place1885
1797 tr. J. B. Muñoz Hist. New World 64 We find countries misplaced, and kingdoms localized that never existed.
1816 G. S. Faber Origin Pagan Idolatry II. 254 The mere vanity of local appropriation, similar to that by which they severally localized the history of the deluge and the appulse of the Ark.
1868 A. Bain Mental & Moral Sci. 4 Descartes localized mind in the pineal gland.
1875 H. James Roderick Hudson vii. 232 It seemed to him that he had seen her before, but he was unable to localize her face.
1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. 9 664 He was again attacked by intense headache, which could not be localised to any particular part of the head.
1912 Jrnl. U.S. Artillery Jan. 48 To localize the fault it is necessary to test separately each element.
1989 C. R. Gallagher-Allred Nutritional Care of Terminally Ill viii. 135 Patients have difficulty localizing the pain in any particular area.
2006 Competition Sci. Vision June 557/1 Many arthropods, salamanders, fish and pigeons can perceive the plane of polarization of sunlight, and may use that information to help localize the Sun.
4.
a. transitive. To establish in, or restrict to, a particular place or region; to make local in range or currency.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > [verb (transitive)] > fix in or restrict to a particular place
allocate1660
locate1701
localize1798
1798 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. 25 162 Their privileged banks [etc.]..which unnaturally localize and accumulate wealth, that was intended by nature for equal diffusion among the skilful and industrious.
a1835 J. Macculloch Proofs & Illustr. Attributes God (1837) III. xlii. 91 To localize peculiar foods to peculiar climates.
1867 W. R. Grove On Correlation Physical Forces (ed. 5) 305 The power of localising, if the term be permitted, heat which would otherwise be dissipated.
1888 Daily News 25 July 5/1 Contributors may subscribe either to the general fund, or, if they prefer it, to the local institute... It would be a matter for general regret if any very large proportion of the contributors localised their money.
1938 Ann. Reg. 1937 15 The policy of non-intervention, for all its set-backs, had succeeded in its main object of localising the conflict.
1984 M. C. Knack & O. C. Stewart As Long as River shall Run i. 16 Within this stark terrain, food resources were localized in small areas.
2005 V. Brooks Hell is upon Us xii. 164 It was apparent that no vital point had been hit and that the watertight compartments had localized the flooding.
b. transitive. To focus (attention) on a particular thing. Chiefly with prepositional phrase.
ΚΠ
1820 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. 92 62 Localizing attention on the meritorious parts.
1861 A. Wynter Our Social Bees 493 Thus we may will that a spot in the skin shall itch, and it will itch, if we can only localize our attention upon the point sufficiently.
1902 Union Seminary Mag. Apr. 306 The plan localized attention to our mission.
1913 S. E. Jelliffe tr. J. Déjérine & E. Gauckler Psychoneuroses i. 45 The whole symptomatology of enterocolitis had disappeared from the moment that the patient's attention was localized upon her bladder.
2012 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) (Nexis) 18 Jan. 8 I tried to localise the attention, getting them to look at their leg as they were lifting up the foot and putting all their attention into stopping at the right time.
c. transitive. British. To organize (an army or army unit) according to a regimental system in which units are attached to or identified with particular places or districts. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military organization > organize military affairs [verb (transitive)] > form (troops) into regiment > form of soldiers from same region
localize1870
1870 Daily Tel. 24 Nov. The advocates for ‘localising’ the Army give us advice of the most valuable kind.
1872 E. Cardwell in Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 209 895 The principles on which we propose to localize the Army.
1906 C. E. Yate Baluchistan (Proc. Central Asian Soc.) 38 Sir Edwin Collen spoke of the steps taken in his time to localize regiments by the formation of regimental centres.
1984 M. Trustram Women of Regiment vii. 136 The aim [of Cardwell's Localisation Bill] was to localise the forces to facilitate recruiting by the development of twenty-six new military centres.
5. intransitive. Medicine. To be or become established or active at a particular location within the body.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > characteristics > characterize a disease [verb (intransitive)] > focalize
settle1594
localize1845
focalize1863
1845 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 12 Feb. 30 And whether the secretions in the early stages of this disease, and before the disease localizes, can produce it by infection, may admit of a question.
1888 Trans. Amer. Surg. Assoc. 6 166 Von Noorden..records an observation which tends to prove that the coccus of erysipelas occasionally enters the circulation, and that, when it localizes in distant parts of the body, it can produce suppuration.
1957 R. W. Raven Cancer I. viii. 270 The viruses of West Nile, Ilheus and Bunyamwera localized preferentially in the tumours of some patients.
1972 A. L. Smith Microbiol. & Pathol. (ed. 10) x. 78/2 Meningococci localize in the leptomeninges.
2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 4 Sept. vi. 9/1 They monitor how tissues and organs react based on where the drugs localize, then they capture these images on film for a physician to interpret.
6.
a. intransitive. Of a person: to settle in a particular place or region.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > [verb (intransitive)] > establish residence
wickc897
telda1325
buildc1340
nestlea1382
to take (up) one's inn (or inns)a1400
to hold (also keep, make, take, etc.) one's mansiona1425
to take one's lodgec1475
reside1490
inhabit1548
to settle one's rest1562
to sit down1579
to set up (or in) one's staff (of rest)1584
to set (up) one's rest1590
nest1591
to set down one's rest1591
roost1593
inherit1600
habituate1603
seat1612
to take up (one's) residencea1626
settle1627
pitch1629
fix1638
locate1652
to marry and settle1718
domesticate1768
domiciliate1815
to hang up one's hat1826
domicile1831
to stick one's stakes1872
homestead1877
to put down roots1882
to hang one's hat1904
localize1930
1930 H. Morris Barrister iii. 49 A decision..whether to practise in London or to localise in some provincial town.
1941 K. Tennant Battlers xxvi. 285 ‘You won't think he'd localise?’ The Apostle shook his head. ‘I don't think he ever would. He's been on the track so long, it's in his blood.’
1995 Ld. Shawcross Life Sentence iii. 24 My real practice at the Bar began in late 1927 when I joined the Northern Circuit and ‘localized’ in Liverpool.
b. intransitive. Zoology. Of an animal: to occupy a geographically restricted area as a territory or home range.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habitat > inhabit [verb (intransitive)] > adopt geographically restricted area
localize1955
1955 Ecology 36 579/1 When most males are removed and vacant sites are available, a blackened male leaving the area of a normal male may localize in a vacant area.
1988 Zool. Jrnl. Linn. Soc. 92 46 Male H[emicordulia] australiae, whether on ponds or lakeshores, localized in a small area or near some geographical feature and defended this territory aggressively.
2001 K. A. Logan & L. L. Sweanor Desert Puma xv. 283 Sometimes, as they try to avoid resident males and garner strength for another long-distance move, subadults may localize in temporary, transient ranges.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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