Inure

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Inure \In*ure"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Inured}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Inuring}.] [From pref. in- in + ure use, work. See {Ure}
     use, practice, {Opera}, and cf. {Manure}.]
     To apply in use; to train; to discipline; to use or accustom
     till use gives little or no pain or inconvenience; to harden;
     to habituate; to practice habitually. "To inure our prompt


     obedience." --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           He . . . did inure them to speak little. --Sir T.
                                                    North.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Inured and exercised in learning.        --Robynson
                                                    (More's
                                                    Utopia).
     [1913 Webster]
  
           The poor, inured to drudgery and distress. --Cowper.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           "Here the fortune of the day turned, and all things
           became adverse to the Romans; the place deep with ooze,
           sinking under those who stood, slippery to such as
           advanced; their armor heavy, the waters deep; nor could
           they wield, in that uneasy situation, their weighty
           javelins. The barbarians on the contrary, were inured
           to encounter in the bogs, their persons tall, their
           spears long, such as could wound at a distance." In
           this morass the Roman army, after an ineffectual
           struggle, was irrecoverably lost; nor could the body of
           the emperor ever be found. Such was the fate of Decius,
           in the fiftieth year of his age; . . .   --Gibbon
                                                    [quoting
                                                    Tacitus]
                                                    (Decline and
                                                    Fall of the
                                                    Roman Empire,
                                                    Ch. 10)
     [PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Inure \In*ure"\, v. i.
     To pass into use; to take or have effect; to be applied; to
     serve to the use or benefit of; as, a gift of lands inures to
     the heirs. [Written also {enure}.]
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  inure
       v : cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate; "He was
           inured to the cold" [syn: {harden}, {indurate}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  34 Moby Thesaurus words for "inure":
     acclimate, acclimatize, accommodate, accustom, adapt, adjust,
     break, break in, brutalize, callous, case harden, condition,
     confirm, discipline, domesticate, domesticize, establish,
     familiarize, fix, gentle, habituate, harden, housebreak, indurate,
     naturalize, orient, orientate, ossify, season, steel, tame, train,
     use, wont