| 释义 |
ed·i·fy
\ˈedəˌfī\ verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
Etymology: Middle English edifien, edefien, from Middle French edifier, edefier, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin aedificare to instruct or improve spiritually, from Latin, to erect a house, construct, from aedes temple, house, building (probably originally “hearth”) + -ficare -fy; akin to Old English ād funeral pyre, fire, Old High German eit funeral pyre, fire, German dialect aitel, a kind of bright fish, Swedish id ide (fish), Latin aestas summer, Greek aithein to ignite, burn, Sanskrit inddhe he ignites
transitive verb
1. archaic
a. : build
< a holy chapel edified — Edmund Spenser >
< edified fourteen hundred mosques — Edward Gibbon >
b. : organize, establish
2. : to instruct and improve especially in moral and religious knowledge : enlighten, elevate, uplift
< the object of these paintings … was to instruct and edify all who came into the church, even if they could not read — O. Elfrida Saunders >
< believe myself to be edified by the old liturgy — D.W.Brogan >
intransitive verb
1. obsolete : grow, prosper
2.
a. obsolete : to profit spiritually : improve
b. archaic : to gain knowledge : learn |