reclaim

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman reclamer (noun reclaim), Middle French reclamer (noun reclaim), from Latin reclāmō, reclāmāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈkleɪm/, /ɹiːˈkleɪm/, /ˈɹiːkleɪm/
• Rhymes: -eɪm

Verb

reclaim (third-person singular simple present reclaims, present participle reclaiming, simple past and past participle reclaimed)

2. (transitive) To return land to a suitable condition for use.
3. (transitive) To obtain useful products from waste; to recycle.
4. (transitive) To claim something back; to repossess.
5. (transitive, dated) To return someone to a proper course of action, or correct an error; to reform.
   • Milton

     They, hardened more by what might most reclaim, / Grieving to see his glory […] took envy.

   • Rogers

     It is the intention of Providence, in all the various expressions of his goodness, to reclaim mankind.

   • Sir E. Hoby

     Your error, in time reclaimed, will be venial.

6. (transitive, archaic) To tame or domesticate a wild animal.
   • Dryden

     an eagle well reclaimed

7. (transitive, archaic) To call back from flight or disorderly action; to call to, for the purpose of subduing or quieting.
   • Dryden

     The headstrong horses hurried Octavius […] along, and were deaf to his reclaiming them.

8. (transitive, archaic) To cry out in opposition or contradiction; to exclaim against anything; to contradict; to take exceptions.
   • Waterland

     Scripture reclaims, and the whole Catholic church reclaims, and Christian ears would not hear it.

   • Bain

     At a later period Grote reclaimed strongly against Mill's setting Whately above Hamilton.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)

9. (obsolete, rare) To draw back; to give way.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

10. (intransitive, law, Scotland) To appeal from the Lord Ordinary to the inner house of the Court of Session.

Translations

to return land to a suitable condition

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 開墾

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: kunnostaa (fi)
• Norman: r'cliâmer

to recycle — see recycle

to return someone to a proper course of action

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使悔改

• Finnish: ojentaa (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: jó útra terel, rehabilitál (hu)
• Portuguese: chamar à razão

to repossess

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 回收

• Finnish: saada takaisin
• Hungarian: visszavesz (hu), visszahódít (wilderness, land)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: reclamare (it)
• Portuguese: reclamar (pt)
• Spanish: reclamar (es)

to tame or domesticate a wild animal — see tame

Noun

reclaim (plural reclaims)

1. (obsolete, falconry) The calling back of a hawk.
2. (obsolete) The bringing back or recalling of a person; the fetching of someone back.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.x:

     The louing couple need no reskew feare, / But leasure had, and libertie to frame / Their purpost flight, free from all mens reclame [...].

3. An effort to take something back, to reclaim something.

Anagrams

• Maricle, Miracle, Ramciel, car mile, claimer, miracle

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Old French

Noun

reclaim oblique singular, m (oblique plural reclains, nominative singular reclains, nominative plural reclaim)

1. reputation

Descendants

• English: reclaim

References

• reclaim on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub