v. [a. Fr. adopte-r (16th c. in Litt.) ad. L. adoptā-re to choose for oneself, esp. a child; f. ad to + optāre to choose; prop. a freq. vb. f. an obs. pple. *opt-us, f. *op-ĕre to wish.]
1. gen. To take (any one) voluntarily into any relationship (as heir, son, father, friend, citizen, etc.) that he did not previously occupy. Const. as (to, unto, sb. in appos. obs.).
1548. Hall, Hen. VII., an. 7 (R.). He did adopt to his heyre of all his realmes and dominions, Lewes the XI.
1598. R. Barckley, Felicitie of Man, III. (1603), 158. Adopting mee to his sonne in law.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. i. 135. May not a King adopt an Heire?
c. 1735. Pope, Hor. Ep., I. vi. 108. Adopt him son or Cousin at the least.
1757. Johnson, Rambler, No. 142, ¶ 12. Those whom he happens to adopt as favourites.
1782. Cowper, Retirement, 725. Friends, not adopted, with a schoolboy’s haste, But chosen with a nice discerning taste.
1818. Hallam, Middle Ages (1872), II. 91. They were adopted into the Diet.
2. esp. (Without complement, and sometimes absol.) To take as one’s own child, conferring all the rights and privileges of childship, or such of them as the law permits to be thus conferred.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 191. I had rather to adopt a Child, then get it.
1750. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Pope John VIII. adopted Boson king of Arles; which perhaps is the only instance in history of Adoption in the order of ecclesiastics.
1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, III. 20. My child! my child! … what possessed me to marry you? why did not I adopt you instead?
† 3. To receive a graft, as a tree. [L. fac ramum ramus adoptet Ov. Rem. 195.] Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), II. Fit one [vine stocke] to the other, ioyning pith to pith, and then binding them fast together so close, that no aire may enter between, vntill such time as the one hath adopted the other.
4. To take up (a practice, method, word or idea) from some one else, and use it as one’s own; to embrace, espouse.
1607. Shaks., Cor., III. ii. 48. Which, for your best ends, You adopt your policy.
1749. Chesterfield, Lett., 205. II. 280. Adopt no systems, but study them yourself.
1850. Kingsley, Alt. Locke (1876), I. 11. He might possibly not have adopted the costume of the island.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xxiii. 397. These men had married Egyptian wives and had adopted Egyptian habits.
b. Philol. (as used in this Dict.) To take a word from a foreign language into regular use without (intentionally) changing its form.
Thus: We have adopted the modern German names of several rocks and minerals, as gneiss, hornblende, quartz, and nickel.
5. To take (a course, etc.) as one’s own (without the idea of its having been another’s), to choose for one’s own practice.
1769. Junius Lett., xxxv. 160. You cannot hesitate long upon the choice which it equally concerns your interests and your honour to adopt.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Manch. Strike, ix. 92. He adopted one posture, from which he determined not to move.
1875. Higginson, Hist. U. S., xvii. 164. His resolutions were adopted by a small majority.
† 6. causal. To make over to any one as his child, adherent or subject; to affiliate, attach. [L. se alicui adoptare.] Obs.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XV. 521. Sold to Laertes by divine command, And now adopted to a foreign land.
† 7. To name after; to name anew after an adoptive parent; to christen or rechristen. [L. aliquid (suo nomini) adoptare.] Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 109. When you are past Smyrna, you come into certain plains, occasioned by the riuer Hermus, and therefore adopted in his name.
