Verb

(determin)

To set the limits of.

* Bible, Acts xvii. 26

[God] hath determined the times before appointed.

* Francis Bacon

The knowledge of men hitherto hath been determined by the view or sight.

To ascertain definitely; to figure out.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine . The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}

To fix the form or character of; to shape; to prescribe imperatively; to regulate; to settle.

* J. Edwards

The character of the soul is determined by the character of its God.

* W. Black

something divinely beautiful that at some time or other might influence or even determine her course of life

To fix the course of; to impel and direct; with a remoter object preceded by to .

Someone else's will determined me to this course.

To bring to a conclusion, as a question or controversy; to settle authoritative or judicial sentence; to decide.

The court has determined the cause.

To resolve on; to have a fixed intention of; also, to cause to come to a conclusion or decision; to lead.

The news of his father's illness determined him to depart immediately.

(logic) To define or limit by adding a differentia.

(obsolete) To bring to an end; to finish.

* Shakespeare

Now, where is he that will not stay so long / Till his friend sickness hath determined me?

Verb

(en verb)

To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.

*

The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained .

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03

, author=, volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Pixels or Perish , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}

To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson

, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}

(obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.

(obsolete) To unfold or make visible.

* (John Evelyn) (1620-1706)

The horse-chestnut isready to explain its leaf.