Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-TERM'INE, v.t. [L. determino; de and termino, to bound; terminus, a boundary or limit; W. tervyn, an extremity, or limit; terv, outward, extreme; tervynu, to fix a bound, to limit, to determine; term, a term, extreme point; termiaw, to limit; Ir. teora, a border or limit; Gr. τερμα, τερμων. See Term.]

1. To end; particularly, to end by the decision or conclusion of a cause, or of a doubtful or controverted point; applicable to the decisions of the mind, or to judicial decisions. We say, I had determined this question in my own mind; the court has determined the cause.
2. To end and fix; to settle ultimately; as, this event determined his fate.
3. To fix on; to settle or establish; as, to determine the proper season for planting seeds. God … hath determined the times before appointed. – Acts xvii.
4. To end; to limit; to bound; to confine. Yonder hill determines our view. Knowledge is determined by the sight. – Bacon.
5. To give a direction to; to influence the choice; that is, to limit to a particular purpose or direction; this circumstance determined him to the study of law. Also, to give a direction to material bodies in their course; as, impulse may determine a moving body to this or that point.
6. To resolve, that is, to end or settle a point in the mind, as in definition first. I determined this with myself. – 2 Cor. ii. Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus. – Acts xx.
7. To destroy. [Not used.] – Shak.
8. To put an end to; as, to determine a will. – Blackstone.
9. To settle or ascertain, as something uncertain. The character of the soul is determined by the character of its God. – J. Edwards.