legislate

Etymology

It is a back-formation from English from legislator,^[2][3][4] or from legislation,^[5][6] and some dictionaries name both;^[7][8][9] the OED adds legislative and compares the suffix -ate.^[10] The agent noun is from Latin lēgislātor, formed from lēgis, genitive of lēx (“law”), and lātor (“proposer”).^[10][7] The OED's revised entry, of 2016, dates the verb much earlier than the other dictionaries do.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To create or control by legislation: 1656, in G. Bishop's Cry of Blood.^[10] Other dictionaries give later dates: the early 18th century,^[9][6] 1710–20^[8] or 1805.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The first record is transitive; the sense that dictionaries now list first is intransitive, "to make or enact laws", which the OED first finds in 1755,^[10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged in 1805.^[2] Webster (1828) defined it in that way, and his examples ask whether it is expedient to legislate on a subject.^[11] The transitive use, to bring something about by law, stayed alive and widened in 1849 to driving people or things into or out of a condition by law.^[10][9] A short-lived use, to make laws for someone, is recorded only in 1719.^[10][9] Since 1925 the verb has also had a colloquial sense: to take measures in view of something, to make provision for it or guard against it.^[10]

Timeline

• 1656 – transitive, to create or control by legislation.^[10]
• 1719 – to make laws for (obsolete).^[10]
• 1755 – intransitive, to make or enact laws.^[10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Etymonline date it to 1805.^[2][7]
• 1849 – transitive, to drive or change by legislation into or out of something.^[10]
• 1925 – colloquial, to make provision for or guard against something.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make or pass laws.^{[4][2][3][10]}
2. To draft or enact a law.^[3]
3. To bring about or control by means of legislation: The council tried to legislate tidy front gardens.^{[4][2][3][10]}
4. To drive or change by legislation into or out of something: The old tax was legislated out of existence.^[10][9]
5. (colloquial) To make provision for, or guard against, something: No coach can legislate for a sending-off in the first minute.^[10]
6. (obsolete, 1719) To make laws for.^[10][9]

Word family

• overlegislate
• legislation
• legislative
• legislator
• legislature

Related words

• legal
• oblate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Webster, Noah (1828), An American Dictionary of the English Language, New York: S. Converse