appoint

English

Etymology

From Old English appointen, apointen, Old French apointier (“to prepare, arrange, lean, place”), French appointer (“to give a salary, refer a cause”), from Late Latin appunctare (“to bring back to the point, restore, to fix the point in a controversy, or the points in an agreement”); Latin ad + punctum (“a point”). See point.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /əˈpɔɪnt/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪnt

Verb

appoint (third-person singular simple present appoints, present participle appointing, simple past and past participle appointed)

1. (transitive): To fix with power or firmness; to establish; to mark out.

   When he appointed the foundations of the earth. --Prov. viii. 29.

2. (transitive): To fix by a decree, order, command, resolve, decision, or mutual agreement; to constitute; to ordain; to prescribe; to fix the time and place of.

   Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint. --2 Sam. xv. 15.

   He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. --Acts xvii. 31.

   Say that the emperor requests a parley ... and appoint the meeting. -- Shakspeare Titus Andronicus IV iv.

3. (transitive): To assign, designate, or set apart by authority.

   Aaron and his shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service. --Num. iv. 19.

   These were cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. --Josh. xx. 9.

4. (transitive): To furnish in all points; to provide with everything necessary by way of equipment; to equip; to fit out.

   The English, being well appointed, did so entertain them that their ships departed terribly torn. --Hayward.

5. (transitive), (Law): To direct, designate, or limit; to make or direct a new disposition of, by virtue of a power contained in a conveyance;—said of an estate already conveyed. --Alexander Mansfield Burrill. Kent.

Translations

To fix with power or firmness

Bulgarian: установявам (bg) French: fixer (fr), poser (fr), déterminer (fr)

Latin: scisco (la)

to constitute; to ordain; to prescribe; to fix the time and place of

Bulgarian: определям (bg), предписвам (bg) Dutch: beschikken (nl), bepalen (nl), vaststellen (nl)

French: fixer (fr), (date) poser (fr) Latin: scisco (la)

To assign, designate, or set apart by authority

Bulgarian: предназначавам (bg), назначавам (bg) Czech: jmenovat (cs) French: désigner (fr), choisir (fr), attribuer (fr), nommer (fr)

Latin: addīcō (la), scisco (la) Spanish: designar (es), nombrar (es) Welsh: penodi (cy)

to provide with everything necessary

Bulgarian: оборудвам (bg)

Spanish: equipar (es)

(law) to direct, designate, or limit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Japanese: 任命する (ninmei suru)

External links

• appoint at OneLook Dictionary Search
• appoint in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913