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Webster 1913 Edition

Affect

Af-fect′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Affected
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Affecting
.]
[L.
affectus
, p. p. of
afficere
to affect by active agency;
ad
+
facere
to make: cf. F.
affectere
, L.
affectare
, freq. of
afficere
. See
Fact
.]
1.
To act upon; to produce an effect or change upon.
As might
affect
the earth with cold heat.
Milton.
The climate
affected
their health and spirits.
Macaulay.
2.
To influence or move, as the feelings or passions; to touch.
A consideration of the rationale of our passions seems to me very necessary for all who would
affect
them upon solid and pure principles.
3.
To love; to regard with affection.
[Obs.]
As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected than
affected
, rather honored than loved, her.
Fuller.
4.
To show a fondness for; to like to use or practice; to choose; hence, to frequent habitually.
For he does neither
affect
company, nor is he fit for it, indeed.
Shakespeare
Do not
affect
the society of your inferiors in rank, nor court that of the great.
Hazlitt.
5.
To dispose or incline.
Men whom they thought best
affected
to religion and their country’s liberty.
Milton.
6.
To aim at; to aspire; to covet.
[Obs.]
This proud man
affects
imperial [GREEK]way.
Dryden.
7.
To tend to by affinity or disposition.
The drops of every fluid
affect
a round figure.
Newton.
8.
To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to assume;
as, to
affect
ignorance
.
Careless she is with artful care,
Affecting
to seem unaffected.
Congreve.
Thou dost
affect
my manners.
Shakespeare
9.
To assign; to appoint.
[R.]
One of the domestics was
affected
to his special service.
Thackeray.
Syn. – To influence; operate; act on; concern; move; melt; soften; subdue; overcome; pretend; assume.

Af-fect′

(ăf-fĕkt′)
,
Noun.
[L.
affectus
.]
1.
Affection; inclination; passion; feeling; disposition.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition

Affect

AFFECT'

,
Verb.
T.
[L. afficio, affectum, of ad and facio, to make; affecto, to desire, from the same room. Affect is to make to, or upon to press upon.]
1.
To act upon; to produce an effect or change upon; as, cold affects the body; loss affects our interests.
2.
To act upon, or move the passions; as, affected with grief.
3.
To aim at; aspire to; desire or entertain pretension to; as, to affect imperial sway. [See the etymology of Affair.]
4.
To tend to by natural affinity or disposition; as, the drops of a fluid affect a spherical form.
5.
To love, or regard with fondness.
Think not that wars we love and strife affect.
[This sense is closely allied to the third.]
6.
To make a show of; to attempt to imitate, in a manner not natural; to study the appearance of what is not natural, or real; as, to affect to be grave; affected friendship.
It seems to have been used formerly for convict or attaint, as in Ayliffe's Parergon; but this sense is not now in use.

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