approve, prieve ( Scotch )

t. & i. [In Fr. approuver, Prov. aprobar, aproar; Sp. aprobar; Port. approvar; Ital. appro bare; Lat. approbo = (1) to approve, (2) to prove ad to, and probo to try, test, to be shown to be good; prob us good.] [APPROBATE, PROVE.) A. Transitive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. To be pleased with. (a) More or le formally to expre satisfaction with, or liking for, or complacency with regard to any statement, measure, or person. "His deep design unknown, the hosts approve At rides speech." Pope : Homer's Iliad , bk. ii., 173, 174. (b) To like, to feel satisfied with, to be pleased with, even when there is no outward or formal expre ion of such inward complacency. "He seemed to seek in every eye If they approred his minstrelsy." IMG:content-0661.png:[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors] In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter."-2 Cor. vii. 11. (See also Acts ii. 22; 2 Cor. vi. 4.) "During the last three months of his life he had approved himself a great warrior and politician."Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. xiii. (c) To commend one's self to another person or Being by worthy deeds. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed."-2 Tim. ii. 15. II. Technically: 1. Ordinary Law: * (a) To improve, to increase the financial value of. (Used especially of the bringing commons under cultivation.) [APPROVE MENT.] "This enclosure, when justifiable, is called in law approving, an ancient expre ion signifying the same as improving."- Black stone : Comment., bk. ii., ch. 8. (b) To turn king's or queen's evidence. [AP PROVER.] 2. Military Law : The confirmation by a superior officer or functionary of the sentence come to by a court-martial. The "The colonel or commanding officer approves the sentence of a regimental court-martial governor or other commanding officer of the garrison approves the sentence [of a garrison court-martial]."James: Mil. Dict . , 4th ed. (1816), p. 141. 3. Old Scottish Parliamentary usage: To affirm by a parliamentary vote any question submitted for decision. "The question was put according to the Scottish form, Approre or not approve the article?' "-Macaulay: Hist. Eng . , ch. xv. Milton B. Intransitive: To expre or to feel approbation. (Generally followed by of . put an infinitive after it, but this is now obsolete.) "Avaux listened, wondered, and approved."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xii. "Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bonds prescribed To thy trangre ions? and disturb'd the charge Of others, who approve not to transgre , Milton : Paradise Lost , bk. iv. ap-prô'ved, * ap-prô'v-yd, pa. par. & a. IMG:content-0662.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-0663.png:[blocks in formation] I. Ordinary Language: 1. The act of approving, approbation, approval; the state of being approved. "It is certain that at the first you were all of my opinion, and that I did nothing without your approve ment." Hayward. * 2. Improvement. (II., Law , 1.) II. Law : 1. The improvement of commons by enclosing a portion of them for purposes of husbandry. "For it is provided by the Statute of Merton, 21 Hen. III., c. 4, that the lord may approve , that is, enclose and convert to the uses of husbandry (which is a melioration or app rore ment ) any waste grounds, woods, or pastures, in which his tenants have common appendant to their estates; provided he leaves sufficient common to his tenants, according to the prop or tion of their land."-Black stone: Comment., bk. lii., chap. 16. Population in England being very much denser than when the Statute of Merton was pa ed, it is no longer taken for granted that the enclosure of a common, and especially of one situated near a large town, is an "approve ment" (improvement), and there are now many legal pitfalls for a lord of a manor attempting, even with the sanction of the commoners, to enclose waste land. 12. The act of turning king's or queen's evidence. [APPROVER.] ap-prov-er, s. [Eng. approve; er. In Ger. prüfer; Sp. a pro bad or.] A. Ordinary Language: 1. One who approves of any person or thing. "He that commends a villain is not an approver only, but a party in his villainy."-South: Sermons, viii. 190. 2. One who makes trial. IMG:content-0664.png:[blocks in formation] I. Law : A bailiff or steward of a manor. * II. Plural. King's approvers: 1. Those who let the king's demesne in small manors. 2. Sheriffs. (Stat. 1 Edw. III., с. 8.) III. One who approves or appeals, that is, confe es a felony, at the same time betraying his accomplices, in the hope of obtaining pardon to himself. The reason why he is called approver (in Lat. prob at or = prover) is that he has to prove what he alleges. Any person whom he accuses is called an appellee. It is felony in a jailor to force a man to turn approver. (Black stone: Comment., bk. iv., chaps. 10 & 25.) bis testimony would have far greater weight with a jury than the testimony of a crowd of ap proters swearing for their necks."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., chap. xxi. An approver in this sense is called, as the case may be, king's or queen's evidence. Such testimony is eminently suspicious, and now-a-days requires to be independently corroborated. "This gentleman kindly showed me the approvers or king's evidence of his establishment." - Hooker : Him a lay an Journals, vol. 1, p. 65. ap-prô'v-ing, pr. par. [APPROVE.] "That, pledged on earth and seal'd above, Grows in the world's approving eyes, In friendship's smile and home's care ," Moore : Lalla Rookh; The Fire-Worshippers. ap-prô'v-ing-ly, adv. [Eng. approving; -ly.] In a way to convey approval. ( Webster.)