Ăn'i-mal-īze, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. ANIMALIZED; p. pr. & vb. n. ANIMALIZING.] [Fr. animaliser.]

  1. To give animal life to; to endow with the properties of an animal. Warburton.
  2. To convert into animal matter by the processes of assimilation.
  3. To render or regard as merely animal or sentient.

The unconscious irony of the Epicurean poet on the animalizing tendency of his own philosophy. Coleridge.