Verb

(en-verb)

To lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body.

* {{quote-book

, author= , title=Translation of Virgil's Aeneid , passage=He said, and to the sword his throat applied . , year=1697}}

To put to use; to use or employ for a particular purpose, or in a particular case; to appropriate; to devote; as, to apply money to the payment of a debt.

To make use of, declare, or pronounce, as suitable, fitting, or relative; as, to apply the testimony to the case; to apply an epithet to a person.

* (rfdate) Milton,

Yet God at last To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied .

To fix closely; to engage and employ diligently, or with attention; to attach; to incline.

* 1611 , '', ''Proverbs 23:12,

Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

To betake; to address; to refer; generally used reflexively.

* Alexander Pope

sacred vows applied to grisly Pluto

* (rfdate) Johnson

I applied myself to him for help.

To submit oneself as a candidate (with the adposition "to" designating the recipient of the submission, and the adposition "for" designating the position).

I recently applied to the tavern for a job as a bartender.

Most of the colleges she applied to were ones she thought she had a good chance of getting into.

Many of them don't know it, but almost a third of the inmates are eligible to apply for parole or work-release programs.

To pertain or be relevant to a specified individual or group.

That rule only applies to foreigners.

(obsolete) To busy; to keep at work; to ply.

* Sir Philip Sidney

She was skillful in applying his humours.

(obsolete) To visit.

* Chapman

His armour was so clear, / And he applied each place so fast, that like a lightning thrown / Out of the shield of Jupiter, in every eye he shone.

(Webster 1913)

Verb

To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for.

{{quote-Fanny Hill, part=3 , Mr. H …, whom no distinctions of that sort seemed to disturb, scarce gave himself or me breathing time from the last encounter, but, as if he had task'd himself to prove that the appearances of his vigour were not signs hung out in vain, in a few minutes he was in a condition for renewing the onset}}

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=August 5, author=Nathan Rabin

, title= TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993) , passage=Valentine’s Day means different things for different people. For Homer, it means forking over a hundred dollars for a dusty box of chocolates at the Kwik-E-Mart after characteristically forgetting the holiday yet again. For Ned, it’s another opportunity to prove his love for his wife. Most germane to the episode, for Lisa, Valentine’s Day means being the only person in her entire class to give Ralph a Valentine after noticing him looking crestfallen and alone at his desk.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)

, volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove , and would cite as they took to the streets. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.}}

To turn out; to manifest.

(copulative) To turn out to be.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 5, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport

, title= Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool , passage=He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt waved play on, with even a succession of replays proving inconclusive.}}

To put to the test, to make trial of.

To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify.

to prove a will

(archaic) To experience

* Spenser

Where she, captived long, great woes did prove .

(printing, dated, transitive) To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of.

to prove a page

Verb

(head)

(proove)