Grāt'i-fy, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. GRATIFIED; p. pr. & vb. n. GRATIFYING.] [Fr. gratifier, Sp. gratificar, It. gratificare, Lat. gratificari, gratus, pleasing, and facere, to make.]
Sense 1. To please; to give pleasure to; to delight; to satisfy; to soothe; to indulge; as, to gratify the taste, the appetite, the senses, the desires, the mind, and the like.
For who would die to gratify a foe? Dryden.
Sense 2. To requite; to recompense.
It remains To gratify his noble service. Shak.
Synonyms—To indulge; humor; please; delight; requite; recompense.—To GRATIFY, INDULGE, HUMOR. Gratify is the generic term, and has reference, simply to the pleasure communicated. To indulge a person implies that we concede something to his wishes or his weaknesses which he could not claim, and which had better, perhaps, have been spared. To humor is to adapt ourselves to the varying moods, and, perhaps, caprices, of others. We gratify a child by showing him the sights of a large city; we indulge him in some extra expense on such an occasion; we humor him if he is taken ill when away from home.