solemnify

English

Etymology

solemn +‎ -ify

Verb

solemnify (third-person singular simple present solemnifies, present participle solemnifying, simple past and past participle solemnified)

1. (transitive) To make solemn.
   • 2009 March 13, Toby Cecchini, “Mixing Metaphors”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     The drink dates to 1861, when it was allegedly concocted at Brooks’s, a Whig party hangout in London, to commemorate the death of Queen Victoria’s prince consort Albert (or, more accurately, as a smoke screen to solemnify taking a glass of either stout or Champagne on so mournful an occasion).

Related terms

• solemnification