lenify

English

Etymology

From Latin lenis (“soft, mild”) + -fy. Compare French lénifier. See lenition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːnɪfaɪ/, /ˈlɛnɪfaɪ/

Verb

lenify (third-person singular simple present lenifies, present participle lenifying, simple past and past participle lenified)

1. (transitive) To assuage or mitigate; to soften.
   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     And it is used for squinancies and inflammations in the throat ; whereby it seemeth to have a mollifying and lenifying virtue

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Twelfth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     These first infused, to lenify the pain
     He tugs with pincers, but he tugs in vain

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “lenify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Finley, finely