[f. prec.: see -ATE.]
1. To make estranged; to estrange, or turn away the feelings or affections of any one; = ALIEN v. 1.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Paraphr. Matt. vi. 12. And alienat not thy mynde awaye from us.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. 366. Jotham … sought by his best perswasions to alienate the Sechemites.
1740. Cibber, Apol. (1756), I. 285. Who had so visibly alienated the hearts of his theatrical subjects.
1769. Burke, State Nation, Wks. II. 113. Such projects have alienated our colonies from the mother country.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), V. VIII. viii. 19. If Matilda’s pride had not alienated Henry of Winchester.
2. To transfer to the ownership of another. Also absol. = the earlier ALIEN v. 2.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, 203. Other have been glad to alienat the patronage of certayne churches.
1651. Hobbes, Govt. & Soc., viii. § 6. 130. The Lord may sell his Servant, or alienate him by Testament.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 434. What means he then, to Alienate the Crown?
1776. Adam Smith, W. N. (1869), II. V. ii. 455. The vassal could not alienate without the consent of his superior.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 647. The King was not at perfect liberty to alienate any part of the estates of the Crown.
3. fig. (combining 1 and 2) To turn away, transfer.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. IV. (1676), 179/2. If such voluntary tasks … will not … alienate their imaginations.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 414, ¶ 4. To alienate so much ground from Pasturage.
1750. Johnson, Rambl., No. 148, ¶ 11. Who alienates from him the assistance of his children.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Homes Abroad, ix. 127. This is done by alienating capital from its natural channels.
† 4. [One of the senses of L. aliēnāre.] To alter, change, or make a thing other than it is. Obs.
1553–87. Foxe, A. & M., III. 538. Neither favour of his Prince … nor any other worldly respect could alienate or change his purpose.
