Re‐claim″ (rē̍‐klām″), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Reclaimed (–klāmd″); p. pr. & vb. n.Reclaiming.] [F. réclamer, L. reclamare, reclamatum, to cry out against; pref. re- re- + clamare to call or cry aloud. See Claim.] 1. To call back, as a hawk to the wrist in falconry, by a certain customary call. Chaucer.
2. To call back from flight or disorderly action; to call to, for the purpose of subduing or quieting.
The headstrong horses hurried Octavius... along, and were deaf to his reclaiming them. Dryden.
3. To reduce from a wild to a tamed state; to bring under discipline; — said especially of birds trained for the chase, but also of other animals. “An eagle well reclaimed.” Dryden.
4. Hence: To reduce to a desired state by discipline, labor, cultivation, or the like; to rescue from being wild, desert, waste, submerged, or the like; as, to reclaim wild land, overflowed land, etc.
5. To call back to rectitude from moral wandering or transgression; to draw back to correct deportment or course of life; to reform.
It is the intention of Providence, in all the various expressions of his goodness, to reclaim mankind. Rogers.
6. To correct; to reform; — said of things.
Your error, in time reclaimed, will be venial. Sir E. Hoby.
7. To exclaim against; to gainsay. Fuller.
Syn. — To reform; recover; restore; amend; correct.