[a. F. censure-r (16th c. in Littré), f. censure sb.]
† 1. trans. To form or give a ‘censure’ or opinion of; to estimate, judge of, pass judgment on, criticize, judge. Obs.
1590. Greene, Never too late (1600), 32. No further euidence came to censure the allegation.
1592. No-body & Some-b. (1878), 280. Peruse our evidence and censure it According to your wisdome.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., III. ii. 16. Censure me in your Wisedom, and awake your Senses, that you may the better Iudge.
1642. R. Carpenter, Experience, I. xiii. 56. The mouth … censuring all that passes, by the taste.
1729. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, II. 276. As this essay is wrote and published with haste … I hope I shall be censured with candor.
† 2. With complemental adj. or phrase: To judge (an object) to be (of such a kind). Obs.
1597. Sir R. Cecil, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 234, III. 46. I am contented in this to be censured idle.
1610. Histrio-m., G 4. VI. 137. Thou Sonne of knowledge (richer then a man) We censure thy aduise as oracles.
1619. Lett., in Eng. & Germ. (1865), 207. I … censure this for no more then a wild imagination.
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., V. 704. They censure me unkinde or impudent.
1646. Fuller, Wounded Consc. (1841), 288. Eli … censured Hannah … to be drunk with wine.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, v. 283. Censuring it to be done by the Instinct of the Devil.
† 3. To form or give an opinion; to judge, estimate. Obs. a. intr. with of or (rarely) on.
1589. Warner, Alb. Eng., VII. xxxiv. (1612), 167. Too yong were ye to censure of your vncles tyranie.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., I. ii. 17. Pardon deare Madam, ’tis a passing shame, That I (vnworthy body as I am) Should censure thus on lonely Gentlemen.
1607. Heywood, Wom. Kilde w. Kindn., Wks. 1874, II. 104. Most severely censur’d on.
1618. Latham, 2nd Bk. Falconry (1633), 148. Censure better of me.
1682. Otway, Venice Pres., III. i. Oh thou too rashly censur’st of my loue!
† b. with subord. cl. (or pron.) as object.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. II. (1641), 90/2. To censure how this change befell Our wits come short.
1609. Heywood, Brit. Troy, III. xii. Hard it were to censure which were fairer.
1623. Webster, Duch. Malfey, III. i. Your graver heads … what censure they?
1652. H. Bell, trans. Luther’s Colloq., 208. We ought to censure and hold that we are justified by faith.
† c. absol. Obs.
1613. Heywood, Silver Age, III. Wks. 1874, III. 162. Come we hither To trifle or to censure?
1709. Pope, Ess. Crit., 6. Ten censure wrong, for one who writes amiss.
† 4. To pronounce judicial sentence on; to sentence to. Obs.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. i. 29. When I, that censure him, do so offend, Let mine owne Iudgement patterne out my death.
1618. Bolton, Florus (1636), 261. Cato censured them to death for their treason.
1621. Slingsby, Diary (1836), 316. My lord chancellor [Bacon] was this daie censured to go to the tower duringe the Kinges pleasure.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, V. 193. Some were censured to the whipping post.
1682. Enq. Elect. Sheriffs, 27. He was censured … to be degraded of all Honours and Titles.
† b. To adjudge to be. Obs.
1640. Yorke, Union Hon., an. 1215. King Johns covenant was censured to be void.
5. To pronounce an adverse judgment on, express disapproval of, criticize unfavorably; to find fault with, blame, condemn. (The current sense.)
1596. Drayton, Legends, I. 409. Duke Robert iustly censured stood, For Disobedience and unnaturall Pride.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Followers & Fr. (Arb.), 39. Would not Censure, or Speake ill of a Man.
c. 1710. Swift, Wks. (1841), II. 24. Discourses … which instead of being censured, were universally approved.
1779. Johnson, L. P., Wks. 1816, X. 138. He was censured as covetous.
1828. Whately, Rhet., in Encycl. Metrop., 296/1. Their ill-success will probably lead them to censure the proposed method.
† b. With of: To charge (a person) with (some fault). Obs.
1634. Jackson, Creed, VII. xxvii. This … writer sometimes censures the seventy interpreters of ignorance in the Hebrew tongue.
1653. Ashwell, Fides Apost., 58. [He] might be not undeservedly censured of Arrogancy.
c. With subord. clause. rare.
1853. F. W. Newman, Odes of Horace, 18. We rather lament than censure that he had no inward strength to combat circumstances so unfavourable.
d. absol.
1702. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., II. II. iii. (1743), 356. They … proceed accordingly to censure or commend, as they find cause.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Wks. (1764), I. 54. The souls … That never flatter’d, injur’d, censur’d, strove.
† 6. trans. To exercise censorship over. Obs. rare. (Cf. CENSURE sb. 5.)
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xxiii. § 49. How the practice, profession, and erudition of law is to be censured and governed.
