apply

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Verb 1.3.1 Derived terms 1.3.2 Translations 1.4 References 1.5 Anagrams

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Old French aplier, (French appliquer), from Latin applicō (“‘join, fix, or attach to’”); from ad + plicō (“‘fold, twist together’”). See applicant, ply.

[edit] Pronunciation

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -aɪ

[edit] Verb

to apply (third-person singular simple present applies, present participle applying, simple past and past participle applied)

1. (transitive) To lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body.
   • 1697, John Dryden, Translation of Virgil's Aeneid:

     He said, and to the sword his throat applied.

2. (transitive) To put to use; to use or employ for a particular purpose, or in a particular case; to appropriate; to devote; as, to apply money to the payment of a debt.
3. (transitive) To make use of, declare, or pronounce, as suitable, fitting, or relative; as, to apply the testimony to the case; to apply an epithet to a person.
   • (A date for this quote is being sought): Milton,

     Yet God at last To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied.

4. (transitive) To fix closely; to engage and employ diligently, or with attention; to attach; to incline.
   • 1611, Authorized King James Version, Proverbs 23:12,

     Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

5. (transitive) To betake; to address; to refer;—used reflexively.
   • (A date for this quote is being sought): Johnson,

     I applied myself to him for help.

6. (intransitive) To submit oneself as a candidate for.

   I recently applied for a job as a bartender at the tavern.

   Most of the colleges she applied to were ones she thought she had a good chance of getting into.

   Many of them don't know it, but almost a third of the inmates are eligible to apply for parole or work-release programs.

7. (transitive) To pertain or be relevant to a specified individual or group.

   That rule only applies to foreigners.

[edit] Derived terms

• appliance
• applicable
• application

[edit] Translations

[edit] References

• apply in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

[edit] Anagrams

• Alphagram: alppy
• lappy