English

Alternative forms

• canalize

Verb

canalise ‎(third-person singular simple present canalises, present participle canalising, simple past and past participle canalised)

1. (British) To convert a river or other waterway into a canal.
   • 2005, New Science Publications, New scientist, Volume 188

     Under Advance Brazil, the government plans to pave over 7000 kilometres of new Amazonian highways, canalise vast rivers and construct dozens of railways, ...

2. (British) To channel the flow of something.
   • 1927, Edith Wharton, Twilight Sleep, Virago: London, 1996,page 221

     On the desk lay the final version of the Birth Control speech, mastered and canalized by the skilful Maisie.

   • 1938, George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, Chapter 8,

     The workers' militias, based on the trade unions and each composed of people of approximately the same political opinions, had the effect of canalizing into one place all the most revolutionary sentiment in the country.

   • 1948, Sir Winston Churchill, The Second World War: The Gathering Storm, Page 373

     ...yet it is always a wise precaution in defending a frontier of hundreds of miles to bar off as much as possible by fortifications, and thus economise the use of troops in sedentary roles and "canalise" potential invasion.

Derived terms

• canalisation
• recanalise

Translations

Quotations

• 1854 David Thomas Ansted - Scenery, Science and Art: being extracts from the note-book of a geologist and mining engineer

  . . . owing to the recent commencement of works about to be carried on on a large scale to improve and canalise the navigation of the Ebro . . .

Anagrams

• sacaline

French

Verb

canalise

1. first-person singular present indicative of canaliser
2. third-person singular present indicative of canaliser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of canaliser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of canaliser
5. second-person singular imperative of canaliser

Anagrams

• alsacien, Alsacien