v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Reclaimed p. pr. & vb. n. Reclaiming. ] [ F. réclamer, L. reclamare, reclamatum, to cry out against; pref. re- re- + clamare to call or cry aloud. See Claim. ] 1. To call back, as a hawk to the wrist in falconry, by a certain customary call. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. To call back from flight or disorderly action; to call to, for the purpose of subduing or quieting. [ 1913 Webster ] The headstrong horses hurried Octavius . . . along, and were deaf to his reclaiming them. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. To reduce from a wild to a tamed state; to bring under discipline; -- said especially of birds trained for the chase, but also of other animals. “An eagle well reclaimed.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. Hence: To reduce to a desired state by discipline, labor, cultivation, or the like; to rescue from being wild, desert, waste, submerged, or the like; as, to reclaim wild land, overflowed land, etc. [ 1913 Webster ] 5. To call back to rectitude from moral wandering or transgression; to draw back to correct deportment or course of life; to reform. [ 1913 Webster ] It is the intention of Providence, in all the various expressions of his goodness, to reclaim mankind. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ] 6. To correct; to reform; -- said of things. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] Your error, in time reclaimed, will be venial. Sir E. Hoby. [ 1913 Webster ] 7. To exclaim against; to gainsay. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ] Syn. -- To reform; recover; restore; amend; correct. [ 1913 Webster ] |