Emily Dickinson Lexicon

IM-PRO'PRI-ATE, v.t. [L. in and proprius, proper.]

1. To appropriate to private use; to take to one's self; as, to impropriate thanks to one's self. [Not used.] Bacon.
2. To annex the possessions of the church or a benefice to a layman. Spelman. [“The Money-god in Aristophanes pretends a command from Jupiter to distribute as great a largess to the wicked, as to the good; because, if vertue should once impropriate riches, that faire Goddesse would be more wooed for her dowry, than for her native beauty.” Archbishop Sancroft's Modern Policies, edit. 5 Lond. 1654. 12mo. – E. H. B.]