habilitate

comparative more habilitate · superlative most habilitate

1. obsoleteQualified or entitled.

   persons[…]not legal, nor habilitate to serve in Parliament,

   1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC

present singular third person habilitates · participle present habilitating · participle past habilitated · past habilitated

1. transitiveTo enable one to function in a given manner; to make one capable of performing a given function or of conducting something; to make one fit to fulfill a given purpose or competent to act within a particular role.
2. intransitiveTo qualify oneself, through a demonstration of ability, to function in a certain capacity or to act within a certain role.
3. In European institutions of higher education, to qualify as an instructor or professor, usually by defending a dissertation or similar project.
4. USTo supply money to work a mine.
5. datedfigurativelyoftenTo clothe.

   Exteriors habilitated in the glowing colors of fresh and soft-hued paint.

   1874, Charles Philip Johnson, The Social Evil

   1 more example

   Fred. Wickersham, and those who attended him on this sad pilgrimage, had the deceased each habilitated in appropriate apparel, and arrangements made for their conveyance to Healdsburg.

   1889, An Illustrated History of Sonoma County, California