Verb

(head)

(require)

Verb

(requir)

(label) To ask (someone) for something; to request.

*, Bk.XI:

*:I requyre yow lete vs be sworne to gyders that neuer none of vs shalle after this day haue adoo with other, and there with alle syre Tristram and sire Lamorak sware that neuer none of hem shold fyghte ageynst other nor for wele, nor for woo.

*1526 , Bible , tr. William Tyndale, Mark V:

*:I requyre the in the name of god, that thou torment me nott.

To demand, to insist upon (having); to call for authoritatively.

*1998 , Joan Wolf, The Gamble , Warner Books:

*:"I am Miss Newbury," I announced, "and I require to be shown to my room immediately, if you please."

*2009 , Vikram Dodd, The Guardian , 29 December:

*:‘Regrettably, I have concluded, after considering the matter over Christmas, that I can no longer maintain the high standard of service I require of myself, meet the demands of office and cope with the pressures of public life, without my health deteriorating further.’

Naturally to demand (something) as indispensable; to need, to call for as necessary.

*1972 , "Aid for Aching Heads", Time , 5 June:

*:Chronic pain is occasionally a sign of a very serious problem, like brain tumors, and can require surgery.

*2009 , Julian Borger, The Guardian , 7 February:

*:A weapon small enough to put on a missile would require uranium enriched to more than 90% U-235.

To demand of (someone) to do something.

*1970 , "Compulsory Midi", Time , 29 June:

*:After Aug 3 all salesgirls will be required to wear only one style of skirt while on duty: the midi.

*2007 , Allegra Stratton, "Smith to ban non-EU unskilled immigrants from working in UK", The Guardian , 5 December:

*:The government would like to require non-British fiances who wish to marry a British citizen to sit an English test.

Verb

(improv)

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

:

:

*{{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.

:

:(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.

:

*(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.