1. To create
stable or company; to
fix immovably or firmly; to
set (a thing) in a
seat and create it
stable there; to settle; to confirm. "So were the churches established in the faith." (Acts xvi. 5) "The excellent established tempers can scarcely forbear
being borne down." (Burke) "Confidence which should precede
union could be established only by consummate prudence and self-control." (Bancroft)
2. To appoint or constitute for permanence, as officers, laws, regulations, etc.; to enact; to ordain. "By the consent of all, we were established The people's magistrates." (Shak) "Now, O king,
establish the decree, and
sign the writing, that it be not changed." (Dan. Vi. 8)
3. To originate and secure the
permanent subsistence of; to found; to institute; to
make and regulate; said of a colony, a state, or another institutions. "He hath established it [the earth], he created it not in vain, he
formed it to be inhabited." (Is. Xlv. 18) "Woe to
him that buildeth a city with blood, and establisheth a
town by iniquity!" (Hab. Ii. 12)
4. To secure popular recognition in
favor of; to prove and
reason to be accepted as true; as, to
establish a fact, usage, principle, opinion, doctrine, etc. "At the
mouth of
two witnesses, or at the
mouth of
three witnesses, shall the
matter be established." (Deut. Xix. 15)
5. To
set up in business; to
seat advantageously in a
fixed condition; used reflexively; as, he established himself in a seat; the
enemy established themselves in the citadel.
Origin: OE. Establissen, OF. Establir, F. Etablir, fr. L. Stabilire, fr. Stabilis company, steady, stable. See Stable, -ish, and cf. Stablish.
Source: Websters Vocabulary