reclaim

[ri-kleym]

verb (used with object)

to bring (uncultivated areas or wasteland) into a condition for cultivation or other use.

to recover (substances) in a pure or usable form from refuse, discarded articles, etc.

to bring back to a preferable manner of living, sound principles, ideas, etc.

to tame.

re-claim.

verb (used without object)

to protest; object.

noun

reclamation: beyond reclaim.

Origin of reclaim

1250–1300; (v.) Middle English recla(i)men < Old French reclamer (tonic stem reclaim-) < Latin reclāmāre to cry out against, equivalent to re- re- + clāmāre to claim; (noun) Middle English reclaim(e) < Old French reclaim, reclam, derivative of reclamer

Related formsre·claim·a·ble, adjectivere·claim·er, nounnon·re·claim·a·ble, adjectiveun·re·claim·a·ble, adjective

Can be confusedre-claim reclaim

Synonyms for reclaim

2. regain, restore. See recover.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for reclaimer

Historical Examples of reclaimer

But what difference did it really make, after the sanitary distillation of a reclaimer?
The Planet Strappers
Raymond Zinke Gallun

British Dictionary definitions for reclaimer

reclaim

verb (tr)

to claim backto reclaim baggage

to convert (desert, marsh, waste ground, etc) into land suitable for growing crops

to recover (useful substances) from waste products

to convert (someone) from sin, folly, vice, etc

falconry to render (a hawk or falcon) tame

noun

the act of reclaiming or state of being reclaimed

Derived Formsreclaimable, adjectivereclaimant or reclaimer, noun

Word Origin for reclaim

C13: from Old French réclamer, from Latin reclāmāre to cry out, protest, from re- + clāmāre to shout

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for reclaimer

reclaim

early 14c., "call back a hawk to the glove," from Old French reclamer "to call upon, invoke; claim; seduce; to call back a hawk" (12c.) and directly from Latin reclamare "cry out against, contradict, protest, appeal," from re- "opposite, against" (see re-) + clamare "cry out" (see claim (v.)).

"Call back a hawk," hence "to make tame" (mid-15c.), "subdue, reduce to obedience, make amenable to control" (late 14c.). In many Middle English uses with no sense of return or reciprocation. Meaning "revoke" (a grant, gift, etc.) is from late 15c. That of "recall (someone) from an erring course to a proper state" is mid-15c. Sense of "get back by effort" might reflect influence of claim. Meaning "bring waste land into useful condition fit for cultivation" first attested 1764, probably on notion of "reduce to obedience." Related: Reclaimed; reclaiming.