APPLY

Definitions

1. 1. To lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another); -- with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body. He said, and the sword his throat applied. Dryden.
2. 2. To put to use; to use or employ for a particular purpose, or in a particular case; to appropriate; to devote; as, to apply money to the payment of a debt.
3. 3. To make use of, declare, or pronounce, as suitable, fitting, or relative; as, to apply the testimony to the case; to apply an epithet to a person. Yet God at last To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied. Milton.
4. 4. To fix closely; to engage and employ diligently, or with attention; to attach; to incline. Apply thine heart unto instruction. Prov. xxiii. 12.
5. 5. To direct or address. [R.] Sacred vows . . . applied to grisly Pluto. Pope.
6. 6. To betake; to address; to refer; -- used reflexively. I applied myself to him for help. Johnson.
7. 7. To busy; to keep at work; to ply. [Obs.] She was skillful in applying his "humors." Sir P. Sidney.
8. 8. To visit. [Obs.] And he applied each place so fast. Chapman. Applied chemistry. See under Chemistry. -- Applied mathematics. See under Mathematics.