Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for SANC'TI-FY
SANC'TI-FY, v.t. [Fr. sanctifier; It. santificare; Sp. santificar; Low L. sanctifico; from sanctus, holy, and facio, to make.]
- In a general sense, to cleanse, purify or make holy. Addison.
- To separate, set apart or appoint to a holy, sacred or religious use. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Gen. ii. So under the Jewish dispensation, to sanctify the altar, the temple, the priests, &c.
- To purify, to prepare for divine service, and for partaking of holy things. Exod. xix.
- To separate, ordain and appoint to the work of redemption and the government of the church. John x.
- To cleanse from corruption; to purify from sin; to make holy by detaching the affections from the world and its defilements, and exalting them to a supreme love to God. Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. – John xvii. Eph. v.
- To make the means of holiness; to render productive of holiness or piety. Those judgments of God are the more welcome, as a means which his mercy hath sanctified so to me, as to make me repent of that unjust act. – K. Charles.
- To make free from guilt. That holy man, amaz'd at what he saw, / Made haste to sanctify the bliss by law. – Dryden.
- To secure from violation. Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line. – Pope. To sanctify God, to praise and celebrate him as a holy being; to acknowledge and honor his holy majesty, and to reverence his character and laws. – Isa. viii. God sanctifies himself or his name, by vindicating his honor from the reproaches of the wicked, and manifesting his glory. – Ezek. xxxvi.
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