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vivify - 4 dictionary results

viv⋅i⋅fy

  [viv-uh-fahy]
Use vivify in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), -fied, -fy⋅ing.
1. to give life to; animate; quicken.
2. to enliven; brighten; sharpen.
Origin:
1535–45; alter. (with -fy for -ficate) of late ME vivificate < L vīvificātus (ptp. of vīvificāre). See vivi-, -ficate

Related forms:
viv⋅i⋅fi⋅ca⋅tion, noun
viv⋅i⋅fi⋅er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To vivify
viv·i·fy   (vĭv'ə-fī')   
tr.v.   viv·i·fied, viv·i·fy·ing, viv·i·fies
  1. To give or bring life to; animate: vivify a puppet; vivifying the brown grasslands.
  2. To make more lively, intense, or striking; enliven: A smile may vivify a face.

[Middle English vivifien, from Old French vivifier, from Late Latin vīvificāre : Latin vīvus, alive; see gwei- in Indo-European roots + Latin -ficāre, -fy.]
viv'i·fi·ca'tion (-fĭ-kā'shən) n., viv'i·fi'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Vivify

Viv"i*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vivified; p. pr. & vb. n. Vivifying.] [F. vivifier, L. vivificare. See Vivid, -fy; cf. Vivificate.] To endue with life; to make to be living; to quicken; to animate.

Sitting on eggs doth vivify, not nourish. --Bacon.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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vivify 
1595, from O.Fr. vivifier (12c.), from L.L. vivificare "make alive, restore to life," from vivificus "enlivening," from L. vivus "alive" (see vivid) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Vivificate in same sense is recorded from 1432.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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