Subduing

2 definitions found

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

  Subdue \Sub*due"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Subdued}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Subduing}.] [OE. soduen, OF. sosduire to seduce, L.
     subtus below (fr. sub under) + ducere to lead. See {Duke},
     and cf. {Subduct}.]
     1. To bring under; to conquer by force or the exertion of
        superior power, and bring into permanent subjection; to


        reduce under dominion; to vanquish.
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              I will subdue all thine enemies.      --1 Chron.
                                                    xvii. 10.
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     2. To overpower so as to disable from further resistance; to
        crush.
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              Nothing could have subdued nature
              To such a lowness, but his unkind daughters. --Shak.
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              If aught . . . were worthy to subdue
              The soul of man.                      --Milton.
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     3. To destroy the force of; to overcome; as, medicines subdue
        a fever.
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     4. To render submissive; to bring under command; to reduce to
        mildness or obedience; to tame; as, to subdue a stubborn
        child; to subdue the temper or passions.
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     5. To overcome, as by persuasion or other mild means; as, to
        subdue opposition by argument or entreaties.
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     6. To reduce to tenderness; to melt; to soften; as, to subdue
        ferocity by tears.
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     7. To make mellow; to break, as land; also, to destroy, as
        weeds.
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     8. To reduce the intensity or degree of; to tone down; to
        soften; as, to subdue the brilliancy of colors.
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     Syn: To conquer; overpower; overcome; surmount; vanquish. See
          {Conquer}.
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From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  98 Moby Thesaurus words for "subduing":
     Cadmean victory, KO, Pyrrhic victory, Waterloo, abating, allaying,
     alleviating, alleviative, analgesic, anesthetic, anodyne,
     ascendancy, assuaging, assuasive, balmy, balsamic, beating,
     benumbing, blunting, cathartic, championship, chastening,
     cleansing, collapse, conquering, conquest, crash, cushioning,
     dampening, damping, deadening, deathblow, debacle, defeat,
     demulcent, destruction, diminishing, downfall, drubbing, dulling,
     easing, easy victory, emollient, failure, fall, grand slam, hiding,
     knockout, lambasting, landslide, landslide victory, lathering,
     lenitive, lessening, licking, loosening, mastery, mitigating,
     mitigative, mollifying, moral victory, numbing, overcoming,
     overthrow, overturn, pain-killing, palliative, picnic, purgative,
     pushover, quietus, reducing, relaxing, relieving, remedial, ruin,
     runaway victory, smash, softening, soothing, subdual, subjugation,
     success, tempering, thrashing, total victory, trimming, triumph,
     trouncing, undoing, vanquishment, victory, walkaway, walkover,
     whipping, win, winning, winning streak