v. Also 7 car-. [ad. med.L. charactērizāre, ad. Gr. χαρακτηρίζειν to designate by a characteristic mark, f. χαρακτήρ CHARACTER; cf. F. caractériser.]
† 1. trans. To engrave, imprint, impress; to inscribe, write; to define in form or outline; also fig.; = CHARACTER v. 1. Obs.
1591. [see vbl. sb. below].
1598. J. Dickenson, Greene in Conc. (1878), 150. Waue-tossing windes characterizing feare On marble furrowes of the threatfull deepe.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 405. With the effigies of a male lambe characterized vpon her belly.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., I. ii. 60. Sentiments characterized and engraven in the Soul.
1811. Pinkerton, Petral., II. 513. A tusk of a young elephant, half petrified, but perfectly characterized.
† 2. To represent, portray, figure; = CHARACTER. v. 2. Obs.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep. (1650), 288. Desolation presignified unto Greece … numerally characterized in that word.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. III. vi. 73. Janus was caracterised, bifrons.
1710. Shaftesb., Charac., VI. ii. (1737), III. 361. Silence shou’d be distinctly characteriz’d in Hercules.
3. To describe or delineate the character or peculiar qualities of (a person or thing).
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Peter i. 10. Let me now characterize to you the man, in whose heart there is this assurance.
1761. Sterne, Tr. Shandy (1802), IV. xxii. 98. I have no thoughts … of characterizing the militating spirits of my country.
1848. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. II. I. vii. 87, note. I do not choose to use the expressions which alone could characterize it.
b. with compl., now introduced by as.
1626. W. Sclater, Expos. 2 Thess. (1629), 296. This is … a blessed vertue: characterizing vs Gods children.
1710. Hearne, Collect. (1886), II. 360. They are … characteriz’d to be Scholars, Men of Piety.
1729. Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 81. Here is a good man expressly characterized, as distinct from a dishonest … man.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. vi. 56. Might rather be characterized as ‘ravening wolves.’
4. To mark or distinguish as a character does; to be a characteristic of.
1744. Berkeley, Siris, § 191. What is it that characterizeth or differenceth the sulphurs themselves?
1798. Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, iv. 139. Every disease is characterized by a peculiar expression of the countenance.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, I. 24. That excellent taste which characterises her writings.
1876. Green, Short Hist., vi. § 4 (1882), 298. The semi-serious infidelity which characterized the group of scholars round Lorenzo the Magnificent.
5. To impart character to; also absol.
1807. Opie, Lect. Art, ii. (1848), 285. To leave out all that dignifies … all that characterises.
1850. Leitch, trans. C. O. Müller’s Anc. Art, § 401. 534. In the forms of the Winds … ancient art displays … its capacity for characterizing with delicacy and precision.
Hence Characterized ppl. a., Characterizing vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1710. Shaftesb., Charac. (1732), I. 196. Their Mimes or characteriz’d Discourses were as much relish’d as their most regular Poems.
1591. Florio, Sec. Frutes, Ep. Ded. 2. With new caracterisings bepasting al the posts in London.
1646. S. Bolton, Arraignm. Err., 353. All discriminating characterizing names … are nothing else but badges of faction.
1702. S. Parker, trans. Tully’s de Finibus, 54. These Ilustrations and Characterizings of the Forms and Essences of Things are call’d Definitions.
1850. Leitch, trans. C. O. Müller’s Anc. Art, § 13, note. Exaggerated characterizing is caricature.
1870. Goulburn, Cathedral Syst., i. 14. The great characterizing idea.
