English

Verb

renew ‎(third-person singular simple present renews, present participle renewing, simple past and past participle renewed)

1. (transitive) To make (something) new again; to restore to freshness or original condition. [from 14^thc.]
   • c.1596-98, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 5, scene i:

     In such a night / Medea gather’d the enchanted herbs / That did renew old AEson.

2. (transitive) To replace (something which has broken etc.); to replenish (something which has been exhausted), to keep up a required supply of. [from 14^thc.]
3. (theology) To make new spiritually; to regenerate. [from 14th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, Bible (Tyndale), Romans 12.2:

     And fassion not youre selves lyke vnto this worlde: But be ye chaunged in youre shape by the renuynge of youre wittes that ye maye fele what thynge that good yt acceptable and perfaycte will of god is.

4. (now rare, intransitive) To become new, or as new; to revive. [15^th-18^thc.]
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.2.6.ii:

     […] to such as are in fear they strike a great impression, renew many times, and recal such chimeras and terrible fictions into their minds.

   • 1997 July, “Seeking Christian interiority: An interview with Louis Dupre”, in Christian Century, volume 114, number 21, page 654:

     But Christianity was a new religious force in Augustine's day. Today, as you say, its power to integrate culture has all but disappeared. Does Christianity still have the capacity to renew?

   • 2010 September, Michael Allen, "St. Louis Preservation Fund", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, Vol.16, Is.9, p.74:

     Renewing neighborhoods dealing with vacant buildings badly need options other than demolition or dangerous vacant spaces.

5. (transitive) To begin again; to recommence. [from 16^thc.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.8:

     Then gan he all this storie to renew, / And tell the course of his captivitie […].

   • 1660, John Dryden, translating Virgil, (apparently from Eclogue 4), a snippet of translation used to introduce Dryden's Astræa Redux: A poem on the happy restoration and return of His Sacred Majesty Charles II

     The last great age, foretold by sacred rhymes, / Renews its finished course ; Saturnian times / Roll round again.

   • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter IX”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:

     “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

6. (rare) To repeat. [from 17^thc.]
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

     The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds / Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.

7. (transitive, intransitive) To extend a period of loan, especially a library book that is due to be returned.

   I'd like to renew these three books.  Did you know that you can renew online?‎

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:repair

Related terms

• renewal

Translations

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