Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MIT'I-GATE, v.t. [L. mitigo, from mitis, soft, mild, W. mezal, Ir. maoth, muadh; Ar. مَأَدَ, to be tender or smooth. Class Md, No. 1, 6, 25, 28.]

1. To alleviate, as suffering; to assuage; to lessen; as, to mitigate pain or grief. And counsel mitigates the greatest smart. Spenser
2. To make less severe; as, to mitigate doom. Milton.
3. To abate; to make less rigorous; to moderate; as, to mitigate cold; to mitigate the severity of the season.
4. To temper; to moderate; to soften in harshness or severity. We could wish that the rigor of their opinions were allayed and mitigated. Hooker.
5. To calm; to appease; to moderate; as, to mitigate the fierceness of party. Spectator.
6. To diminish; to render more tolerable; as, to mitigate the evils or calamities of life; to mitigate punishment.
7. To reduce in amount or severity; as, to mitigate a penalty.
8. To soften, or make mild and accessible; in a literal sense. It was this opinion which mitigated kings into companions. [Unusual.] Burke.