edify
verb/ˈɛdɪfaɪ/
Etymology From Old French edifier (“to build, to edify”), from Latin aedificare (“build”).
1
Archaic To build, construct.
- That Castle was most goodly edifyde, / And plaste for pleasure nigh that forrest syde […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
2
To instruct or improve morally or intellectually.
- frustrate the best endeavours in the edifying of the church1641, Francis Bacon, A Wise and Moderate Discourse, Concerning Church-Affaires:
- January 23, 1783, Edward Gibbon, letter to Dr. Priestley It does not appear probable that our dispute [about miracles] would either edify or enlighten the public.
1 more example
- That they ought to edify one another by maintaining and promoting the knowledge of truth.1813, The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Vol. VI, page 455:
- Related terms
- edification, edificator, edifice, edifier, edifying