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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Subdue \Sub*due"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Subdued}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Subduing}.] [OE. soduen, OF. sosduire to seduce, L. subtus below (fr. sub under) + ducere to lead. See {Duke}, and cf. {Subduct}.]
1. To bring under; to conquer by force or the exertion of superior power, and bring into permanent subjection; to reduce under dominion; to vanquish.
I will subdue all thine enemies. --1 Chron. xvii. 10.
2. To overpower so as to disable from further resistance; to crush.
Nothing could have subdued nature To such a lowness, but his unkind daughters. --Shak.
If aught . . . were worthy to subdue The soul of man. --Milton.
3. To destroy the force of; to overcome; as, medicines subdue a fever.
4. To render submissive; to bring under command; to reduce to mildness or obedience; to tame; as, to subdue a stubborn child; to subdue the temper or passions.
5. To overcome, as by persuasion or other mild means; as, to subdue opposition by argument or entreaties.
6. To reduce to tenderness; to melt; to soften; as, to subdue ferocity by tears.
7. To make mellow; to break, as land; also, to destroy, as weeds.
8. To reduce the intensity or degree of; to tone down; to soften; as, to subdue the brilliancy of colors.
Syn: To conquer; overpower; overcome; surmount; vanquish. See {Conquer}.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
98 Moby Thesaurus words for "subduing": Cadmean victory, KO, Pyrrhic victory, Waterloo, abating, allaying, alleviating, alleviative, analgesic, anesthetic, anodyne, ascendancy, assuaging, assuasive, balmy, balsamic, beating, benumbing, blunting, cathartic, championship, chastening, cleansing, collapse, conquering, conquest, crash, cushioning, dampening, damping, deadening, deathblow, debacle, defeat, demulcent, destruction, diminishing, downfall, drubbing, dulling, easing, easy victory, emollient, failure, fall, grand slam, hiding, knockout, lambasting, landslide, landslide victory, lathering, lenitive, lessening, licking, loosening, mastery, mitigating, mitigative, mollifying, moral victory, numbing, overcoming, overthrow, overturn, pain-killing, palliative, picnic, purgative, pushover, quietus, reducing, relaxing, relieving, remedial, ruin, runaway victory, smash, softening, soothing, subdual, subjugation, success, tempering, thrashing, total victory, trimming, triumph, trouncing, undoing, vanquishment, victory, walkaway, walkover, whipping, win, winning, winning streak
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |