adoptv.
/əˈdɒpt/, U.S. /əˈdɑpt/ 1.
a. transitive. To take (a child) and bring it up as one's own, (usually) assuming all rights and responsibilities from its biological parents on a permanent, legal basis. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > join by kindred or affinity [verb (transitive)] > adopt > a child
adoptc1429
arrogate1565
dopta1607
c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 2880 O son hadde sho fairest be flesshely progeniture, Ane othere hadde sho adopt be law of mercyfulle cure.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Adoptitius, he that is adopted or taken in the stede of a sonne.
1607 L. Andrewes Serm. (1856) 59 No father adopts, unless he be orbe, have no child.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. iii. 190 I had rather to adopt a child then get it. View more context for this quotation
1689 Suppl. Misc. Poems against Popery & Slavery 4 And if the Smock and Dada fails, Adopt a Brat of Neddy H—es.
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. May (1965) I. 410 A child thus adopted cannot be disinherited.
1761 tr. Frederician Code I. i. 46 All those who have no child, nor hopes of having any, may adopt in this manner, be they married or not.
1836 R. M. Bird Sheppard Lee II. v. xii. 118 My best friend..and my only relative—a youth whom I had adopted and reared as my son..had leagued together feloniously.
1873 R. Broughton Nancy III. 20 My child! my child!..what possessed me to marry you? why did not I adopt you instead?
1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables vi. 69 Did you ever suppose you'd see the day when you'd be adopting an orphan girl?
1973 Times 9 Nov. 20/7 The Houghton committee..recommended making it easier for long-term foster-parents..to adopt.
2002 Independent 29 May 17/1 The overwhelming majority of prospective adopters long only to adopt babies, preferably under six months.
b. transitive. Originally North American. To acquire (an animal, esp. a stray or rescued one) and give it a permanent home.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > providing with dwelling > [verb (transitive)]
couchc1400
inhabit1413
seat1586
fix1638
haft1728
domiciliate1778
home1802
domicile1809
settle1853
adopt1897
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > join by kindred or affinity [verb (transitive)] > hold relationship with
haveOE
adopt1897
1897 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Sentinel 15 Feb. 4 Miss Poole..is one of those cordial friends of the race who never hesitates to adopt a stray dog.
1936 Boys' Life May 20/4 We adopted a small red fox pup which a farmer caught and gave to us.
1972 Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 92/3 (advt.) Adopt handsome male cat: ‘Purry’ Japanese Harlequin,..short silky fur, great purrer, playful.
1994 Washington Post (Nexis) 24 Nov. m1 People who want to adopt a horse must work with the animal several times at the farm, fill out an application, show they have a proper location to keep the horse.
2010 Your Cat Feb. 46/3 A drop in the number of people looking to adopt a cat saw the Battersea cattery approach full capacity.
2.
a. transitive. To take (a person) voluntarily into any relationship legally or informally, as heir, father, friend, etc. Chiefly with as (formerly also with †to, †into, †for).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > join by kindred or affinity [verb (transitive)] > adopt
adopt1481
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > make friends with [verb (transitive)] > accept (a person) as a friend > receive or admit (someone) to society or friendship
underfo924
underfonga1175
to take upc1384
adopt1757
1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) cxcv. 285 He lefte alle the duchye and the Countreye to his neuewe whiche bare his name, And adopted hym in to sone and heyr.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xxvij He did adopt to his heyre of all his realmes & dominions, Lewes the .xi.
1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 i. i. 136 Maie not a king adopt an heire?
1598 R. Barckley Disc. Felicitie of Man iii. 159 Adopting me to his sonne in law.
1651 T. Randolph et al. Hey for Honesty ii. iii. 12/2 Some gib'd Cat that died issuelesse, has adopted thee for her Heire.
1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace i. vi. 108 Adopt him Son, or Cozen at the least.
1757 S. Johnson Rambler No. 142. ⁋12 Those whom he happens to adopt as favourites.
1782 W. Cowper Retirement in Poems 725 Friends, not adopted, with a schoolboy's haste, But chosen with a nice discerning taste.
1848 Hogg's Weekly Instructor New Ser. 1 11 Drawing his scimitar, and presenting its hilt to the fugitive, he solemnly adopted him as a brother Circassian.
1878 E. O'Curry Lect. MS Materials Anc. Irish Hist. xviii. 383 In the absence of his father by death and of his later preceptor by distance, he adopted him as his father and preceptor.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 265/1 His handsome presence, and his promise of exceptional gifts of oratory, led a wealthy uncle..to adopt him as his heir.
1947 O. H. Dunbar House in Chicago x. 82 Moody had always felt a brotherly responsibility for Charlotte, and from now on Harriet also adopted her as a sister.
2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane v. 113 I was pleased when in the coming weeks Anu adopted Sally as a surrogate auntie.
b. transitive. To admit (a person) to the membership of a family, organization, society, etc. Chiefly with into.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > [verb (transitive)] > admit as member
incorporate1530
adopt1538
enrol1623
aggregate1651
associate1806
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Capitis diminutio, a condemnation, wherby a man..renouncynge his owne familie, is adopted or take into an other, whiche is not now vsed.
1561 H. Becher tr. Twoo Bks. ii. vi. sig. P(ii) We knowe certeyne Nacions to be nowe adopted into the felowshyp of the chyldren of God.
1676 H. Oldenburg Let. 10 June in Corr. (1986) XII. 332 Signor Travagino, a Venetian philosopher and Chymist, adopted into our Society, hath communicated to us his way of fixing mercury into Silver.
1739 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. (ed. 2) V. 18 He was adopted into the college of augurs.
1768 Monthly Rev. Aug. 140 Because, says the statute of the college, many in this city practise physic, whom we deem quite improper to be adopted fellows or candidates.
1818 H. Hallam View Europe Middle Ages I. v. 480 They were adopted into the diet.
1839 R. M. Bird Adventures Robin Day I. xvi. 129 Why, sink him, he had adopted me into the nation.
1917 U. Sinclair King Coal 14 They..adopted him into the fraternity and instructed him in its ways of life.
1932 D. Jenness Indians of Canada x. 139 Captives, when not sacrificed, were adopted into the families, given Iroquoian wives, and regarded as citizens of full standing.
2001 J. N. Stroyar Children's War lii. 284 The cell had noticed him in the neighborhood, had watched him for a while, and had then decided to adopt him into their ranks.
c. transitive. To choose and move to (a country, city, etc.) as one's chief or permanent place of residence. Chiefly with as.
ΚΠ
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Mark ii. f. xviiv So did he [sc. Jesus], as it wer adopte and choose Capernaum to be his countrey.
1658 J. Davies tr. M. de Scudéry Clelia III. iii. 128 Brutus told him in particular, that it was his desire he would adopt Rome for his Countrie.
1792 Polit. State Europe I. 65 For more than a century the Dillons have adopted France as their country.
1859 Jrnl. of Jurispr. June 320 The question is, did he adopt London as his domicile?
1930 Rotarian Oct. 51/2 This music-loving folk so endeared themselves to Beethoven that he adopted Vienna as his home.
1986 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 23 Nov. 34/1 The trans-planted English painter David Hockney..adopted Los Angeles in the 1960's and lives in the North Hollywood hills.
2006 Atlanta Mag. 134 A Californian who adopted Atlanta as his hometown five years ago.
d. transitive. Originally and chiefly British. To select (an applicant) as a candidate for election to the House of Commons. Also used with reference to other electoral processes.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [verb (transitive)] > adopt as candidate
adopt1797
slate1804
1797 Times 22 June 3/2 Barras proposed a candidate whom Bathelemy very readily adopted.
1843 New World 586/1 Many were of the opinion that the Adams party had better adopt their candidates.
1879 Polit. Year-bk. 1878 73/2 For the third time the Senate fails to elect a life senator, the votes for M. Latour (adopted as candidate of the Right in place of the Due Decazes) and of M. Lefranc being nearly equal.
1918 tr. F. Orozco y Jiménez Mem. 25 A governor of a state told me that I should advise its local center to adopt as candidate for congressman one he thought more suitable than the one proposed by the party.
1979 J. Grimond Mem. vi. 97 Had Lady Glen-Coats not recommended me to the Liberals there, I should never have been adopted—and probably would never have been an M.P. at all.
2010 Selkirk Advertiser (Nexis) 23 July Euan Robson had been adopted as the party's candidate for the new, expanded constituency of Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire.
e. transitive. British. Of a local authority: to take over responsibility for the maintenance of (a road). Cf. unadopted adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > control > [verb (transitive)] > assume control and possession of
to take over1618
adopt1803
to take on1849
1803 Act 43 Geo. III c. 56 in Local & Personal Acts (1804) 1023 At every annual General Meeting thereafter shall be laid before them..a List of the Roads adopted for Repair.
1862 Act 25 & 26 Victoria c. 61 §45 It shall and may be lawful for the Council of every such Borough in England and Wales..to adopt all or any of such Parish Roads and Highways as the Council shall in its Discretion consider advisable.
1907 Justice of Peace Rep. 71 564/3 In 1904 the widening and laying out of Stubbington Avenue as a road..was completed, but it had never been adopted by any resolution of the council of the plaintiffs.
1958 Times 22 Mar. 7/6 A frontager who considers that they [sc. roads] should have been adopted.
2010 S. Wales Evening Post (Nexis) 5 June 16 Swansea Council confirmed the application to build flats had been removed, and that it had yet to adopt the road.
f. transitive. To make (a particular person, animal, etc.) the object of one's charitable concern, esp. as part of an organized campaign; to take up or sponsor (a cause).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > imprison [verb (transitive)] > release from prison > advocate release of political prisoner
adopt1961
1916 Bostall Boshter 23 Feb. 1 Wanted some kind person to adopt a poor soldier who is motherless broke.
1930 ‘R. Crompton’ William the Bad vi. 138 He was urging them to ‘adopt’ an orphan, that is, to pay for its maintenance each year.
1961 Amnesty 11 July 4/1 Anyone who writes to Amnesty to ask ‘Can I adopt a prisoner?’ is asked to take on the case not of one prisoner but of three.
1975 Help Aged Rep. 12 The idea..is for groups of people in Britain to ‘adopt’ a small project, to provide the capital to get self-help projects going, or to finance other ‘one-off’ needs.
1990 Green Mag. Apr. 97/4 (advt.) Adopt a rescued horse, pony or donkey to receive photographs and reports (min. £6 yearly).
2000 Brit. Waterskier Sept. 42/2 There has been a conversation going around in the Kneeboard camp that we should adopt a charity for 2001.
3.
a. transitive. To give (a person) to another as his or her child, subject, adherent, etc.; to affiliate. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > join by kindred or affinity [verb (transitive)] > adopt > give in adoption
adopta1567
a1567 T. Becon Demaundes Holy Script. (1577) sig. G.i To beget vs agayne and adopte vs to God.
1619 J. Howel Let. 10 Apr. in Elegant Epist. (1790) ii. §2. iv. 286/1 Our first league of love, you know, was contracted among the muses in Oxford; for no sooner was I matriculated to her, but I was adopted to you.
1689 P. Belon Court Secret 109 They value not who gets their Children, they adopt them to what Father they think are most proper to own them.
1726 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey IV. xv. 521 Sold to Laertes, by divine command, And now adopted to a foreign land.
1857 F. W. Faber Sir Lancelot (ed. 2) iv. 108 A foreigner adopted to the hearths Of that fair town.
1922 Utah Geneal. & Hist. Mag. Oct. 148 I went before the Lord to know who I should be adopted to (we were then being adopted to prophets and apostles).
b. transitive. Originally and chiefly North American. With out. To give up or make available (a child) for adoption.
ΚΠ
1862 Knickerbocker Nov. 433/2 Babies, who are daily adopted out to comfortable and often wealthy homes.
1897 Sessional Papers Province Ont. XXX. No. 16. 28 The keeper, or matron, may adopt out a child from its birth for the lump sum of $50 down.
1921 N.Y. Suppl. 285 249 The sisters of Elizabeth Cronin told her that Elizabeth had been ‘adopted out’, and that she understood that the persons who adopted her were friends of a Mrs. Brady.
1981 G. Winokur Depression v. 45 It is necessary to have a control group of children who have been adopted out.
2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 21 Oct. ii. 2/4 I don't believe in making the choice to adopt out children a question of character.
4.
a. transitive. To take up (a practice, habit, word, idea, etc.) from someone else; to embrace, espouse.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > taking possession > take possession of [verb (transitive)] > adopt as one's own
to take toa1382
to take up?c1425
adoptate1560
adopt1586
1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie sig. B6 This stile of all others maye be adopted vnto these speciall kinde of Epistles.
1659 J. Gauden Ἱερα Δακρυα iv. xxiii. 627 The most rigid censors..dare accuse every man for Popish,..who do not presently adopt every mans new fancy, opinion and form of Religion.
1664 R. Boyle Exper. & Considerations Colours xv. 177 Divers Learned Men, having adopted the three Hypostatical Principles, besides other Notions of the Chymists.
1749 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 5 Dec. (1932) (modernized text) IV. 1454 Adopt no systems, but study them yourself.
1773 T. Pennant Genera of Birds xxi. 48 Pratincola, or inhabitant of meadows, a name given it by Dr Kramer, and adopted by me.
1850 C. Kingsley Alton Locke I. i. 15 He might possibly not have adopted the..costume of that island.
1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar xxiii. 397 These men had married Egyptian wives and had adopted Egyptian habits.
1901 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 56 The author adopts Giard's term adelphophagy for a union of gametes of the same sex.
1949 Mind 58 369 One of the members..announced that he had adopted the ‘radical pluralism’ of this author [sc. Russell].
2000 Independent 28 Mar. ii. 1/1 He's a street-talking parody of young white men who adopt black American gangsta affectations in order to appear cool.
b. transitive. Linguistics. To take (a word or phrase) from a foreign language into one's own without (substantially) altering its form; to borrow.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > use or formation of new words or phrases > [verb (transitive)] > borrow from another language
usurp1531
adopt1663
borrow1706
1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus xxii. 300 Gehenna is a word adopted into the Greek and Latin tongues.
1688 J. Battely Prayers in unknown Tongue i, in Popery not founded on Script. 652 Several Chaldee words.., such as Bethesda, Golgotha, Akeldama, &c...were adopted into the Hebrew.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Pref. Such [words] as are readily adopted by the genius of our tongue.
1780 T. Sheridan Gen. Dict. Eng. Lang. I. 21 The 3d [pronunciation] in technical terms and a few other words adopted from the French.
1803 J. Burney Discov. S. Sea i. ii. 61 They had the custom of marking their bodies in the manner, which, to use a word lately adopted from the language of a people more recently discovered, we call tattow.
1860 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. Sc. Life (ed. 7) v. 257 Scoto-Gallic words were differently situated from French words and phrases adopted in England.
1910 Sewanee Rev. Apr. 183 The number of Celtic words adopted by the English at this time is extremely small.
1952 J. A. Ramsay Physiol. Approach Lower Animals viii. 133 The German word Gestalt, meaning shape or form, has been adopted in English usage.
1995 Up Here (Yellowknife, N.W. Territories) July 24/1 Wigwam, a word adopted from a Massachusetts tribe, is the generic term for a wide range of shelters covered with individual skins or bark.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > propagation of plants > propagate [verb (transitive)] > a cutting: graft > receive as graft
adopt1601
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xvii. xv. 519 Fit one [vine stock] to the other, joyning pith to pith, and then binding them fast together so close, that no aire may enter between, untill such time as the one hath adopted the other.
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. i. 8 If an Haw-thorn be grafted upon an Holly, it is so adopted into the stock, that it will bud in Winter.
a1671 F. Drope Short & Sure Guid Fruit-trees (1672) vi. 118 The graft not being adopted, before the filme is generated, is thrust off the wood of the stock, and excluded as a stranger, to whom the stock hath no relation.
1840 Q. Rev. July 164 Even these must be grievously impaired by having adopted such grafts of dead stocks as a Wilson and a Hamilton.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > give a name to [verb (transitive)] > name after
namec1384
attitle1393
intitule1483
adopt1601
namesake1836
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. v. xxix. 109 When you are past Smyrna, you come into certaine plaines, occasioned by the riuer Hermus, and therefore adopted in his name. [L. a Zmyrna Hermus campos facit et nomini suo adoptat].
a1645 J. Philipot Villare Cantianum (1659) 374 Henry Newman alienated the Inheritance to Humphrey Starkey,..who erected here that House, which ever since hath been adopted into his Name.
7. transitive. To take up (an opinion, attitude, course of action, etc.); to choose (a method, practice, term, etc.) for one's use (without the idea of its having been taken directly from another).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > follow (a course of behaviour) [verb (transitive)] > adopt a course
gangOE
carrya1393
adopta1616
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > use or make use of [verb (transitive)] > take into use
takea1400
to fall upon ——1579
adopta1616
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > choose [verb (transitive)] > choose to do something > choose (a course, etc.)
carrya1393
adopta1616
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iii. ii. 49 Which for your best ends You adopt your policy. View more context for this quotation
1693 S. R. tr. A. Baillet Life M. Des Cartes iv. 95 Having proposed a Model or Pattern of a general Method which he adopted; yet without pretending to obtrude it upon others for their Instruction.
1753 Ess. Celibacy 104 If a vapoured person is at one time convinced of the truth of any proposition,..at another he will adopt the opposite opinion.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xxxv. 41 You cannot hesitate long upon the choice, which it equally concerns your interest, and your honour to adopt.
1780 W. Smellie tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Gen. & Particular IV. 349 We shall adopt the name of the Marmot of the Cape.
1834 R. M. Bird Calavar I. xxv. 250 I cannot believe that the señor Cortes would adopt a course..without a very discreet and politic object.
1860 J. C. Jeaffreson Bk. about Doctors II. 17 We have adopted the oblique narration instead of his form, which uses the first person.
1890 Lancet 3 May 971/2 Similar means may be adopted for intensifying the effect of freezing by means of an ether or rhigolene spray.
1940 Fed. Suppl. 31 737/1 The District Judge had adopted the practice of holding what was termed a ‘Pre-Sentence Hearing’.
1973 Computers & Humanities 7 225 Instructors considering adopting this text can be assured that the programs accompanying the flowcharts do work.
2005 J. Martyn Ringfort to Runway i. iii. 37 Hoi, hoi, Mr Kilbane..hold on there a minute..there's no need to adopt that attitude. Let's talk about this.
8. transitive. To approve or accept (a report, proposal, resolution, etc.) formally; to ratify.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > approve of, accept, or sanction [verb (transitive)] > accounts or reports
adopt1736
1736 A. Campbell Further Explic. 6 It was agreed, that..they should narrate in their Minutes, That the Committee had not adopted that Report.
1754 B. Franklin in Wks. (1887) II. 355 Plan of Union Adopted by the Convention at Albany.
1864 Weekly New Mexican 3 June 1/4 The house ways and means committee will report a bill having adopted the amendment permitting states to tax the national banks.
1875 T. W. Higginson Young Folks' Hist. U.S. xvii. 164 His resolutions were adopted by a small majority; all the younger members being with him.
1906 J. Galsworthy Man of Prop. 178 I propose then that the report and accounts be adopted.
1958 Oxf. Mail 16 Aug. 8/7 The best balance sheet the club has ever had was unanimously adopted at the annual general meeting of the Oxford Club League.
2000 Slavic Rev. 59 861 The deputies of the Union of 17 October rejected by a very large majority..the resolutions adopted at the Octobrist conference organized by Guchkov.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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