Verb

(improv)

(lb) To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).

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*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}

(lb) To become better.

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*:“My Continental prominence is improving ,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

(lb) To disprove or make void; to refute.

*(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)

*:Neither can any of them make so strong a reason which another cannot improve .

(lb) To disapprove of; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure.

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:(Chapman)

*(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)

*:When he rehearsed his preachings and his doing unto the high apostles, they could improve nothing.

(lb) To use or employ to good purpose; to turn to profitable account.

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*(Isaac Barrow) (1630-1677)

*:We shall especially honour God by improving diligently the talents which God hath committed to us.

*(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)

*:a hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved

*(William Blackstone) (1723-1780)

*:The court seldom fails to improve the opportunity.

*(Isaac Watts) (1674-1748)

*:How doth the little busy bee / Improve each shining hour.

*(George Washington) (1732-1799)

*:True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion.

Verb

(excell)

To surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something.

* '>citation

    La Rochefoucauld, the French philosopher, said: "If
you want enemies, excel' your friends; but if you want
friends, let your friends '''excel''' you."
    Why is that true? Because when our friends '''excel''' us,
that gives them a feeling of importance; but when we ' excel
them, that gives them a feeling of inferiority and arouses
envy and jealousy.

I excelled everyone else with my exam results.

To be much better than others.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=November 12 , author= , title=International friendly: England 1-0 Spain , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Lescott gave his finest England performance alongside his former Everton team-mate Phil Jagielka, who also excelled despite playing with a fractured toe, while Parker was given a deserved standing ovation when he was substituted late on.}}

* 1924 : ARISTOTLE. Metaphysics . Translated by W. D. Ross. Nashotah, Wisconsin, USA: The Classical Library, 2001. Available at: . Book 1, Part 2.

If, then, there is something in what the poets say, and jealousy is natural to the divine power, it would probably occur in this case above all, and all who excelled in this knowledge would be unfortunate.

(rare) To exceed, to go beyond

* 1674 , Paradise lost, , by Milton

She opened; but to shut / Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood

* XIX century , , by Emily Dickinson

I reason, we could die : / The best vitality / Cannot excel decay; / But what of that?