Establish \Es*tab"lish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Established; p. pr. & vb. n. Establishing.]

[OE. establissen, OF. establir, F. ['e]tablir, fr. L. stabilire, fr. stabilis firm, steady, stable. See Stable, a., -ish, and cf. Stablish.]

1. To make stable or firm; to fix immovably or firmly; to set (a thing) in a place and make it stable there; to settle; to confirm.

So were the churches established in the faith. --Acts xvi. 5.

The best established tempers can scarcely forbear being borne down. --Burke.

Confidence which must precede union could be established only by consummate prudence and self-control. --Bancroft.

2. To appoint or constitute for permanence, as officers, laws, regulations, etc.; to enact; to ordain.

By the consent of all, we were established The people's magistrates. --Shak.

Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed. --Dan. vi. 8.

3. To originate and secure the permanent existence of; to found; to institute; to create and regulate; -- said of a colony, a state, or other institutions.

He hath established it [the earth], he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. --Is. xlv. 18.

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! --Hab. ii. 12.

4. To secure public recognition in favor of; to prove and cause to be accepted as true; as, to establish a fact, usage, principle, opinion, doctrine, etc.

At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. --Deut. xix. 15.

5. To set up in business; to place advantageously in a fixed condition; -- used reflexively; as, he established himself in a place; the enemy established themselves in the citadel.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)