BAPTIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does baptize mean? 

• BAPTIZE (verb)
  The verb BAPTIZE has 1 sense:

1. administer baptism to

  Familiarity information: BAPTIZE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BAPTIZE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they baptize    ... he / she / it baptizes   
Past simple: baptized   
Past participle: baptized   
-ing form: baptizing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Administer baptism to

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

baptise; baptize; christen

Context example:

The parents had the child baptized

Hypernyms (to "baptize" is one way to...):

be known as; call; know as; name (assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody something

Sentence example:

They baptize him "Bobby"

Derivation:

baptism (a Christian sacrament signifying spiritual cleansing and rebirth)

 Context examples 

"And I drink 'long life to your resolution', Teddy," cried Jo, baptizing him with a splash of lemonade, as she waved her glass and beamed approvingly upon him.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I heaved them up, deluged the bed and its occupant, flew back to my own room, brought my own water-jug, baptized the couch afresh, and, by God's aid, succeeded in extinguishing the flames which were devouring it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Do come and help me or I shall die! and the exhausted housewife cast herself upon his breast, giving him a sweet welcome in every sense of the word, for her pinafore had been baptized at the same time as the floor.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)