affirmadj.int.
/əˈfəːm/, U.S. /əˈfərm/ Originally and chiefly U.S.
Esp. in radio communication: = affirmative adj. 1b. Also as int.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [adjective]
affirmativec1449
affirmant1574
asseveringa1734
ponent1770
asseverating1838
asserting1848
affirm1960
1960 N.Y. Times 22 Dec. 14/1 That's affirm, that's a radar vector to the final approach course.
1984 Texas Monthly Nov. 254/3 Sounds as though you're getting down to bedrock. Is that affirm?
1991 J. Webb Something to die For (1992) xix. 335 That's affirm, Roadblock. Tell the Cobra to keep looking at that ridge.
2005 D. L. Van Loan Blue Skies & Tail Winds iii. 23 Air traffic control..asked if we had the weather. ‘Affirm’ I said as I rattled back our clearance.
2012 W. B. O'Connor Stealth Fighter xii. 232 ‘Vega one two, understand that you're in trail now.’ I reply, ‘Vega one two, that's affirm.’
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
affirmv.
/əˈfəːm/, U.S. /əˈfərm/α. Middle English aferme, Middle English affeerme, Middle English–1600s afferme, 1500s afferm; Scottish pre-1700 efferm.
β. Middle English–1600s affirme, Middle English–1600s affyrme, 1500s affyrm, 1500s–1600s afirm, 1500s–1600s afirme, 1500s– affirm; Scottish pre-1700 affirme, pre-1700 1700s– affirm.
1. † b. transitive. To confirm (a statement made by another); to maintain or stand by (a statement of one's own). Obsolete.
a. transitive. Law. To uphold (a judgment or decree of a lower court); to confirm, ratify (a covenant, law, contract, etc.); to uphold the decision of (a judge). Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > [verb (transitive)] > validate or ratify
confirmc1290
affirma1325
authorize1431
corrobore1485
stable1501–2
find1512
corroborate1530
authenticate1555
warrant1598
validatea1648
convalidate1656
execute1737
enforce1756
homologatea1765
sanction1778
formalize1855
a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) xi. 64 Ant te king sal afermen hoere stat þoru his lettres.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 2928 (MED) That lawe was confermed In due forme and al affermed.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §84 He consented to hir conseilyng & fully affermed hir sentence.
1431 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Jan. 1431 §32. m. 4 All manere of enditementz..and statutz, made..aȝeins the saide Owen, mowe be affermed, auctorised and establised for lawe.
a1525 (?1475) Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 418 þe good & laufull ordenaunces in that partie made to [be] by them affermed, and the vnlawfull to be be them adnulled.
1579 in J. S. Clouston Rec. Earldom of Orkney (1914) 147 The said charter of excambioun..effermit, ratefeit and apprevit the said cos to be guid in it self.
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. i. iii. §32 f.28 This iudgement was affirmed in a Writ of Error.
1657 H. Grimston tr. G. Croke Reports 77 To averre what it is reasonably worth, which being the common course and alwaies allowed, Judgment was therefore affirmed.
1736 in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 249 The decree was affirmed most unanimously, the appeal adjudged frivolous.
1760 G. G. Beekman Let. 22 Sept. in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 366 The Lords of Appeal in Prize causes, have been Pleased to Affirm the Sentence of Our Judge.
1825 J. Wilson in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 383 Well then—appeal to posterity..and posterity will affirm the judgment, with costs.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 388 Twenty-three peers voted for reversing the judgment; thirty-five for affirming it.
1912 Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Criminal Law & Criminol. 3 87 As no reversable error was shown, the judgment was affirmed.
1967 Times Rev. Industry June 90/2 The Court of Appeal, affirming the Judge, rejected that argument.
2005 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant (Nexis) 28 June b3 The decision..affirms a judge's April ruling that the town council did not act with bias or predetermination in granting zoning approval.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > attest, bear witness [verb (transitive)] > support, corroborate
fasteneOE
i-sothea925
sustainc1325
witness1362
approvec1380
confirmc1384
affirma1393
justifya1393
to bear outa1475
corrobore1485
uphold1485
nourisha1522
underpinc1522
to countenance outa1529
favoura1530
soothe1544
strengthen1548
comfort1593
second1596
accredit1598
evidencea1601
warrantise1600
compact1608
back1612
thickena1616
accreditate1654
shoulder1674
support1691
corroborate1706
carry1835
to give (also lend) colour1921
the mind > language > statement > maintaining or upholding as true > maintain or uphold as true [verb (transitive)] > specifically a statement made by another
affirma1393
the mind > language > statement > maintaining or upholding as true > maintain or uphold as true [verb (transitive)] > specific one's own statement
affirm1611
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. l. 2585 (MED) And alle tho Affermen that which he hath told.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 100 (MED) Paule seiþ, as seiþ Auicen, & Hali Abbas affermeþ [L. affirmat] þe same, þat seldom falleþ fracture to bones of þe spondilez.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 151 (MED) Whan a man wyl preysin an-oþer, þe bacbytere wyll afferme it..he sayth it is sooth.
a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 68 He shall afferme my word and sey as I seid.
a1555 H. Latimer Frutefull Serm. (1572) ii. f. 185v A story written by a Spaniard in the latine tongue and affirmed by many godly and well learned men.
1611 Bible (King James) Acts xii. 15 But she constantly affirmed that it was euen so. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) v. ii. 115 I said so, deare Katherine, and I must not blush to affirme it. View more context for this quotation
1670 R. Baxter Cure Church-div. Pref. sig. B7 When one hath said it, the rest will affirm it.
c. transitive. To confirm the validity of; to corroborate, attest to; to support, uphold (a proposal, a suggestion, etc.).
ΚΠ
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 305 Macrobeus..Affermeth dremes and seith þt they ben Warnynge of thynges þt men after sen.
a1425 (?a1400) Cloud of Unknowing (Harl. 674) (1944) 107 Ȝit þouȝte he it not inowȝ, bot ȝif he affermyd it after by miracle.
1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. aij/1 The cristen feyth is affermed and corrobered by the doctours of holy chyrche.
?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens ii. sig. Lj In the vpper roundnes therof is affyrmed the holownesse of the pyt or morteys bones.
?1555 Image of Idlenesse sig. Ciii If that be not inough to brynge her bountie in your credence, ye shall to affirme the same, here of a myracle whiche in the olde dayes she wrought.
1630 tr. A. Rodriguez Short & Sure Way to Heaven v. 39 He was inforc't..to disclose the coffin to be able to affirme whether it were she or no.
1679 ‘T. Ticklefoot’ Some Observ. Tryals Wakeman 7 That he was not President of the Benedictines, his Lordship affirmed from the Testimony of three Flingstinks.
1789 Eng. Rev. Apr. 276 I have always understood too, that the sick, in general, are well treated; but..I cannot affirm this from my own knowledge.
1849 G. L. Smyth Ireland III. xx. 326 The Commons affirmed the proposal, but took care to show that they were not prepared to enter upon any loose, or ill-digested legislation.
1890 J. H. Appleton Lessons in Chem. Philos. (ed. 2) xxi. 223 This [fact] affirms the selection of the number 32 as the atomic weight of sulphur.
1947 Elem. School Jrnl. Sept. 5/2 The committee affirmed the suggestions made at the Chautauqua Conference.
1980 Savannah (Georgia) Morning News 29 Apr. 1 Leaders of America's European allies affirmed plans to impose sanctions against Iran unless 'decisive progress' is made by May 17.
2000 Acta Sociologica 43 329/2 The recent reissuings and translations of some of his works will affirm his lasting importance.
2. To assert (something) strongly; to state as a fact.
a. transitive. With object and infinitive, or object and complement.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (transitive)]
vowc1330
anferme1340
affirma1382
willa1382
threapc1386
avow1393
to make oneself strongc1425
maintain?c1430
protest1440
traverse1491
assure1509
ferma1525
verc1540
profess1542
enforce1579
justify1579
aver1582
to take on1583
asserta1604
will1614
assevera1618
positive1656
autume1661
declare1709
obtesta1722
predicate1782
asseveratea1847
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Wisd. Prol. 85 Thys booc the Jewis afermen [a1425 L.V. affermen] to ben of Filon.
a1500 (c1380) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 472 (MED) Anticrist þat wolde affeerme crist a fool.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Acts xxv. 19 Certayne questions..off their awne supersticion, and of one Iesus which was ded [1388 Wyclif, of oon Iesu deed], whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. lxxviij Ferdinando..affirmed the kyngdome to be his by good right.
1584 A. Barlowe in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) 732 Their greatest citie, called Shycoake, which this people affirme to be very great.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage v. v. 401 None of credite..hath affirmed himselfe to haue seene this Vnicorne, but in picture.
1654 H. Hammond Answer Animadversions on Diss. touching Ignatius's Epist. v. 135 To affirm him a Papist..is but the old method of speaking all that is ill of those, who differ from our opinions in any thing.
1660 R. Coke Elements Power & Subjection 120 in Justice Vindicated Nor is that corrective and distributive justice, which Aristotle affirmed to be in Arithmetical, and in Geometrical proportion.
a1703 R. Hooke Lect. Light in Posthumous Wks. (1705) 110 Some have affirmed to have seen the Phase of it through a Telescope, to appear Horned like a New Moon.
1780 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 196/2 A large fierce animal which Mr. Atkins affirmed to be a centaur..it proved to be a Man satyr.
1831 Eclectic Rev. 6 78 We have not yet found the certain traces of any great diluvian catastrophe which we can affirm to be within the human period.
1866 F. A. Abel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 156 271 This substance may be affirmed to contain the elements of cellulose plus two or three proportions of the elements of nitric anhydride.
1910 H. Macfall Hist. Painting III. xvii. 198 Del Mazo's copies of portraits..show his original qualities, and affirm him a great master.
1955 S. Neill Christian Faith To-day 249 If God is such as Christian faith, basing itself on the words of Jesus Christ, has affirmed Him to be.
2003 R. Kendall Christopher Marlowe & Richard Baines xvi. 277 This would not explain why Marlowe affirmed it to be his—unless Kyd is lying again.
b. transitive. With a subordinate clause.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (transitive)] > swear an oath or take an oath > affirm in place of an oath
affirm?c1400
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. ii. l. 857 I dar wel affermen hardyly that..thow ne haddest nat lorn hem.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) v. l. 2448 Thei took a galaunt born of louh lynage, Callid Ballas..And affermede..How he was sone & iust heir in substaunce To Epiphanes.
c1440 (?a1396) W. Hilton in G. G. Perry Eng. Prose Treat. (1921) 20 Noght affermande þat þis suffisches, ne þat þis es þe sothefastnes in þis mater.
?1529 Proper Dyaloge Gentillman & Husbandman sig. A iij Affermynge that oure love shuld a way fade Withoute any memory of theym at all.
1565 W. Allen Def. & Declar. Doctr. Purgatory i. xi. f. 101v There dare no man..affirme that the doctrine of Purgatory is hourtfull to vertuous liefe.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V i. ii. 43 Yet their owne writers faithfully affirme That the land salicke lyes in Germany.
1640 Whole Bk. Psalmes: ‘Bay Psalm Bk.’ Pref. sig. *3 Either wee must sing Davids psalmes, or else may affirm they are not spirituall songs.
1709 A. Pope Chaucer's January & May in Poet. Misc.: 6th Pt. 187 Nay, if my Lord affirm'd that Black was White, My Word was this; Your Honour's in the right.
1799 Monthly Rev. 30 548 Montesquieu mistakes in affirming that the natives of the country [sc. Russia] are all either lords or slaves.
1838 Lit. Gaz. 17 Feb. 101/1 I give yon this account as it was given to me by one who affirmed he was an eye-witness.
1877 W. Lytteil Landmarks Sc. Life & Lang. iii. i. 104 That such a report existed in Claudian's time cannot now be affirmed.
1924 Amer. Mercury Sept. 124/2 I do not hesitate to affirm that what is specifically human in man and ultimately divine is a certain quality of will.
1975 J. Montague Slow Dance 19 I still affirm That nothing dies, that even from Such bitter failure memory grows.
2004 M. Oke Times of our Lives 294 At a Washington peace protest, Martin Luther King proclaims ‘I have a dream’, affirming that all men are created equal.
c. transitive. With a simple object.
ΚΠ
1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys ii. f. xxxv Damnynge alway for heretykys all them that wold afferme the contrary.
1550 J. Ponet Notable Serm. conc. Ryghte Use Lordes Supper sig. Dvii We must take hede (sayeth S. Austen) that we doe not so affirme the diuinitie of his manhode, that wee take awaye thereby of the trueth of hys body.
1610 J. Healey tr. J. L. Vives in tr. St. Augustine Citie of God viii. xi. 317 Plato..auerreth the antiquity of that opinion that affirmed the essence of intelligibilities onely [L. Plato in Sophista antiquiorem fuisse illam sententiam iudicat, qua sola intelligibilia essentiæ ueræ existimantur.].
a1623 H. Swinburne Treat. Spousals (1686) 43 [He] more confidently than concludently affirmed the same.
1754 J. Edwards Careful Enq. Freedom of Will i. iii. 16 The Subject and Predicate of the Proposition, which affirms the Existence of any Thing.
1789 T. Taylor tr. Proclus Philos. & Math. Comm. II. 157 Such as affirm the non-coincidence of lines extended from angles less than two right.
1850 T. T. Lynch Memorials Theophilus Trinal ii. 19 Let us often affirm the clearness that is in God.
1880 G. Smith in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 196 Pessimism, which affirms the definitive ascendancy of evil.
1902 Month May 453 The Church..affirms the provability of the Divine existence.
1992 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 26 July 5/2 Women..accompanied him to affirm his masculinity in the straight world.
2011 A. E. McGrath Christian Theol. iii. xi. 285/2 The doctrine of the incarnation..affirms the presence of the divine nature or substance within Christ.
3. intransitive. To make a statement of fact; to make a strong assertion. Also with of.
ΚΠ
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Tim. i. 7 Not vndirstondinge..of what thingis thei affermen [L. affirmant; 1526 Tyndale, 1560 Geneva, 1611 King James whereof they affirme].
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 105 As þei beȝonde the see seyn & affermen.
c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 66 (MED) Honeste and profite asken þat he þerynne be þe more trowid..to afferme or denye.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique f. 1v The one affirmyng for his parte, and the other deniyng, as fast again for his parte.
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Ezra i. 3 II. 4 Many there were—who affirmed deeply of being the people of God.
1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) IV. 6 You are not ripe for judgment. One affirms, the other denies.
1823 J. Hill tr. H. Aldrich Rudim. of Logic (new ed.) ii. 25 Thus, When the sun rises, cannot be a Proposition, for it neither affirms nor denies.
1884 ‘Scotus Novanticus’ Metaphysica Nova et Vetusta 143 An animal..cannot categorize, because it cannot affirm.
1982 J. Van Bragt tr. K. Nishitani Relig. & Nothingness 48 This is the paradoxical position from which the world makes itself present to us..: unable to affirm, unable to deny, and no recourse left but to bang your head against it.
1993 B. Honig Polit. Theory & Displacement of Politics v. 141 We might think that the distribution of this inability to affirm is, like the distribution of talents and attributes, arbitrary from a moral point of view.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > strengthening or confirmation of immaterial things > strengthen or confirm immaterial things [verb (transitive)]
strengha1175
strengthc1200
astrengthc1250
strength1340
confirmc1386
affirma1393
forcec1430
renforce?1473
corrobore1485
re-enforcec1485
reinforcec1485
stronga1500
consolidate?a1547
strengthen1546
sinewize1600
sinew1625
confortate1651
nervate1682
scaffolda1693
corroborate1698
substantiate1792
nerve1856
stouten1887
affirm1899
toughen1901
to put stuffing into1938
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 3421 (MED) Such a drede..is affermed in his herte.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. l.189 (MED) Bot thilke lord which al may kepe..Afferme pes betwen the londes.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iv. met. vi. l. 4151 He..affermiþ þe moeuable or wandryng þinges.
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 51 (MED) He had hoped to haue turned her. But she was so afermed in goodnesse, that it wolde not be.
a1460 tr. Dicts & Sayings Philosophers (Helm.) (1999) 83 (MED) Whanne a persoone is in doute of doutefull thinges and is wele affermed in thinges that bene openly knowen, it is a signe þat he is of a good vndirstandinge.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. Kk.v The goddis assure & affirme euerything.
1641 Dundee Charters (1880) 54 [They] may affix, affirm, hold and continue Admiralty Courts.
5. transitive. To swear (an oath, etc.); to confirm or declare by oath, to swear formally to be true. Later also intransitive: to make a formal declaration or affirmation, esp. rather than taking an oath; cf. affirmation n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (transitive)] > swear an oath or take an oath > affirm by an oath
swear688
affirmc1425
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. l. 2643 (MED) With alle þe othes þat I afferme may.
c1437 Chancery Proc. (P.R.O.: C1/9/267) (MED) He affermed a pleynt of dette..ayenst oon Geffray Gadern.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 123 He..affyrmit with faith & with fyn chere All þo couenaundes to kepe.
1567 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. I. 542 I faythfullie affirme be my solempnit ayth.
1650 E. Marbury Comm. Habakkuk (new ed.) ii. 114 An oath is..Assertorie, when we do call God to witnesse against our souls, if we affirm not the truth.
?1702 F. Bugg Refl. on Quakers Printed Case (single sheet) (verso) Consider how the Quakers say and unsay how they affirm backward and forward, for which, some of them are convicted of Perjury.
1763 R. Burn Eccl. Law II. 285 By his own oath affirming his innocency.
1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. viii. 129 Quakers and others, now permitted by law to affirm instead of swearing.
1922 Syst. Bible Study i. 237/1 Oath, an appeal to God, or to authorities recognized by the respective adjurers, or to anything esteemed sacred, to witness what is affirmed.
1987 Times 11 Feb. 3/3 Krafft refused to take the oath or affirm and to give evidence... He told..the coroner ‘I want no part of this.’
2002 A. N. Wilson Victorians xxix. 448 The idiotic Speaker of the House, Sir Henry Brand, could have easily allowed Bradlaugh to affirm, rather than take an oath.
6.
a. transitive. Logic. To state that (a proposition, or part of a proposition) is true; to give as an affirmative proposition. Also intransitive. Cf. affirmative adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (intransitive)] > make statement in affirmative
affirm1551
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (transitive)] > make statement in affirmative
affirm1551
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > [verb (transitive)] > affirm
affirm1551
1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Gvij I call that in the proposition a qualitie, when it doth affirme or denie.
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. vi. f. 33 The whole Integrall cannot bee affirmed of any one of his parts, for a part is not the whole.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 172 An Axiome is Affirmed when the band of it is affirmed.
1644 K. Digby Two Treat. ii. ii. 369 In them [sc. identical propositions]..euidence ariseth out of the plaine Identification of the extremes that are affirmed of one an other.
1773 E. Bentham Introd. Logick 45 Modal propositions are affirmative or negative, according as the modus is affirmed, or denied of the dictum.
1870 F. C. Bowen Logic vii. 210 To affirm the Reason or the Condition is also to affirm the Consequent or the Conditioned; and to deny the Consequent is also to deny the Reason.
1894 J. N. Keynes Stud. & Exerc. Formal Logic (ed. 3) ii. ix. 231 To deny an alternation is the same thing as to affirm a conjunction.
1908 B. Russell in Amer. Jrnl. Math. 30 238 If Epimenides asserts ‘all first-order propositions affirmed by me are false’, he asserts a second-order proposition.
1997 J. Barnes Logic & Imperial Stoa iii. 30 If you oppose the claim that some universal proposition is true, you thereby affirm that no universal proposition is true.
b. intransitive. Grammar. To have a positive or affirmative meaning. Also transitive: (of a word, speaker, etc.) to give a positive meaning to (a statement, construction, etc.). Cf. affirmative adj. 1a, negate v. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > other grammatical categories or concepts > use other category or concept [verb (transitive)]
affirma1586
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > other grammatical categories or concepts > use other category or concept [verb (intransitive)] > make affirmative statement
affirma1586
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella (1591) 27 For Grammer sayes..That in one speech, two negatiues affirme.
1647 R. Busby Short Inst. Gram. 12 The Indicative plainly affirmeth or denieth a thing without any sign; as amo I do love; non amo I do not love: or else asketh a question; as, amas tu? doest thou love?
1711 J. Greenwood Ess. Pract. Eng. Gram. 160 Two Negatives, or two Adverbs of Denying do in English affirm.
1803 J. Marshall Writings upon Federal Constit. (1839) 22 Affirmative words are often..negative of other objects than those affirmed.
1918 G. Greever & E. S. Jones Cent. Handbk. Writing §58. 105 The indicative mode affirm or denies.
2005 S. Winkler Ellipsis & Focus in Generative Gram. iii. 140 The function of polarity focus is to either affirm or negate an event which is introduced in the first coordinate sentence.
7. Originally U.S.
a. transitive. To assert or reinforce the value of (life) through a positive, uplifting, or intense experience or activity; to endow (one's own life) with value in this way. Cf. life-affirming adj. at life n. Compounds 1b(b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > strengthening or confirmation of immaterial things > strengthen or confirm immaterial things [verb (transitive)]
strengha1175
strengthc1200
astrengthc1250
strength1340
confirmc1386
affirma1393
forcec1430
renforce?1473
corrobore1485
re-enforcec1485
reinforcec1485
stronga1500
consolidate?a1547
strengthen1546
sinewize1600
sinew1625
confortate1651
nervate1682
scaffolda1693
corroborate1698
substantiate1792
nerve1856
stouten1887
affirm1899
toughen1901
to put stuffing into1938
1899 Monist 9 566 Disease of conscience..deprives us of the courage to affirm life joyously and of the power to act nobly.
1920 E. Muir We Moderns iv. 173 Tragedy is the supreme affirmation of Life, for it affirms Life even in its most painful aspects;..so that we say, ‘Yes, this, too, is beautiful!’
1963 Rev. Metaphysics 17 21 The slave affirms his life in the objects that he works on and sees himself in them.
2011 A. Harris Raised Right vi. 109 It wasn't that they refused to participate in the bloody business of war or that they shrugged off our enemy's evil; they participated, but in a way that affirmed life and showed mercy.
2012 K. Blessing in D. K. Johnson Inception & Philos. xx. 300 While Cobb is consumed by regret, this Little Sparrow resolutely affirms her life, warts and all.
b. transitive. To give (a person) emotional support or encouragement. Cf. affirmation n. 5b. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > support > support or encouragement > support or encourage [verb (transitive)]
shoveOE
to hold with (arch. of, on, for)1154
favour1362
abetc1380
sustainc1390
supportc1405
courage1470
comfort1481
friend1550
through-bear1554
countenance1568
foster1569
favourize1585
seconda1586
sidea1601
rally1624
feed1626
countenance1654
encourage1668
inserve1683
to go strong on1822
partake1861
sponsor1884
to hold a brief for1888
root1889
rah-rah1940
affirm1970
babysit1973
barrack-
1970 Child & Family 9 36/2 Because of the immutable psychological principle that unselfish love and affirmation beget the same, it can be said that the pregnant woman who does not want her child because she cannot affirm it, needs the child even more than the child needs her.
1975 D. W. Champagne & R. M. Goldman Handbk. Individualized Learning in Classroom i. 3 Recognize me, plan for me, affirm me, let me develop who I am.
1987 S. Panken Virginia Woolf & ‘Lust of Creation’ ix. 139 The illusion that his wife unconditionally affirmed him was badly shattered.
1994 M. E. Kavanagh Before Wedding v. 86 I need to be affirmed at least once in a while, and my fiancée's mother never affirms me.
2007 R. J. Furey Art of Affirmation v. 72 When children are adequately affirmed, they learn how to affirm. They collect role models, people who affirmed them in their own unique way.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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