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adorning

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adorning

 

  1  definition  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Adorn  \A*dorn"\,  v.  t.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {Adorned};  p.  pr  &  vb  n. 
  {Adorning}.]  [OE.  aournen  anournen  adornen  OF  aorner,  fr 
  L.  aaornare  ad  +  ornare  to  furnish,  embellish.  See  {Adore}, 
  {Ornate}.] 
  To  deck  or  dress  with  ornaments;  to  embellish;  to  set  off  to 
  advantage;  to  render  pleasing  or  attractive. 
 
  As  a  bride  adorneth  herself  with  her  jewels.  --Isa. 
  lxi.  10. 
 
  At  church,  with  meek  and  unaffected  grace,  His  looks 
  adorned  the  venerable  place  --Goldsmith. 
 
  Syn:  To  deck;  decorate;  embellish;  ornament;  beautify;  grace; 
  dignify;  exalt;  honor. 
 
  Usage:  To  {Adorn},  {Ornament},  {Decorate},  {Embellish}.  We 
  decorate  and  ornament  by  putting  on  some  adjunct  which 
  is  attractive  or  beautiful,  and  which  serves  to 
  heighten  the  general  effect.  Thus  a  lady's  head-dress 
  may  be  ornament  or  decorated  with  flowers  or  jewelry; 
  a  hall  may  be  decorated  or  ornament  with  carving  or 
  gilding,  with  wreaths  of  flowers,  or  with  hangings. 
  Ornament  is  used  in  a  wider  sense  than  decorate.  To 
  embellish  is  to  beautify  or  ornament  richly,  not  so 
  much  by  mere  additions  or  details  as  by  modifying  the 
  thing  itself  as  a  whole.  It  sometimes  means  gaudy  and 
  artificial  decoration.  We  embellish  a  book  with  rich 
  engravings;  a  style  is  embellished  with  rich  and 
  beautiful  imagery;  a  shopkeeper  embellishes  his  front 
  window  to  attract  attention.  Adorn  is  sometimes 
  identical  with  decorate,  as  when  we  say  a  lady  was 
  adorned  with  jewels.  In  other  cases,  it  seems  to  imply 
  something  more  Thus  we  speak  of  a  gallery  of 
  paintings  as  adorned  with  the  works  of  some  of  the 
  great  masters,  or  adorned  with  noble  statuary  and 
  columns.  Here  decorated  and  ornamented  would  hardly  be 
  appropriate.  There  is  a  value  in  these  works  of  genius 
  beyond  mere  show  and  ornament.  Adorn  may  be  used  of 
  what  is  purely  moral;  as  a  character  adorned  with 
  every  Christian  grace.  Here  neither  decorate,  nor 
  ornament,  nor  embellish  is  proper.




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