[f. prec.]
1. To approve expressly or formally; to express approbation of, sanction authoritatively. Obs. in England since 17th c., but preserved in U.S., and often used as simply = approve.
1470. Harding, Chron., cvi. As Flores saieth, and hath it approbate.
1528. Roy, Satire (Arb.), 91. Obedience and wilfull poverte Which allmyghty god doth approbate.
1557. Barclay, Jugurtha (Paynell), 42. Whether they wold approbate and alowe the sayd composicion.
1623. Cockeram, Approbate, to allow, to like.
1833. Gen. P. Thompson, Idioms of America, in Exerc. (1842), III. 470. There are many Americanisms which in the course of time will work their way into the language of England…. The verbs ‘approbate,’ ‘consider’ (in the sense of ‘believe’), and even ‘guess,’ are making their way gradually in their peculiar senses.
1849. in Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., V. 52. Mr. Bache, who has written me a letter approbating the affair.
2. Sc. Law. To approve or assent to as valid. Chiefly in phr. To approbate and reprobate: to take advantage of those portions of a deed that are in one’s favor, while repudiating the rest. Also transf.
1836. Blackw. Mag., XXXIX. 662/2. You cannot approbate and reprobate the same instrument.
1836–7. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xv. (1870), 280. I approbate the one, I reprobate the other.
1880. Law Rep., Appeal, V. 325. He is in substance … approbating and reprobating, a course which is not allowed either in Scotch or English Law.
