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humanization, n.

DRAFT REVISION June 2009

Brit. /hjumnzen/, U.S. /hjumnze()n/, /(h)jumnaze()n/  Forms: 17- humanization, 18- humanisation. [< HUMANIZE v. + -ATION suffix. Compare earlier HUMANIZING n.] 

    1. The action or process of making more humane, civilizing, or refining. Cf. HUMANIZE v. 2.

1753 tr. F. I. Espiard de la Borde Spirit of Nations III. xxi. 212 Amidst our Advantages over the Antients, the characterising Virtue of our Age will doubtless be this Humanization [Fr. Adoucissement] of the Manners. 1783 W. F. MARTYN Geogr. Mag. II. 93 Learning and humanization quickly followed. 1788 J. PRIESTLEY Lect. Hist. V. lv 427 Those diversions..which..promote the humanization of our manners. 1876 H. MAUDSLEY Physiol. of Mind vi. 366 There is not a being born into the world who does not carry in his nature the cultivation of his epoch, marking, so to speak, its stage of humanization. 1879 M. ARNOLD Equality in Mixed Ess. 65 Great elements in our humanisation. 1913 P. V. N. MYERS Hist. as Past Ethics ii. 27 In these mitigations and prohibitions of the barbarities of war on the lower levels of savagery we have probably the earliest articles of the war code of the nations. They mark the first steps taken in the humanization of war. 1991 A. RODDICK Body & Soul x. 216 It is little wonder that women become frustrated, particularly when they can claim credit for many innovations like flexitime, cafeteria benefit plans, creches and day care, not to mention the general humanization of the workplace.

    2. The action or process of HUMANIZE v. 1.

1801 S. T. COLERIDGE Coll. Lett. (1956) II. 712 Pigs are likewise & more regularly fatted with Potatoes & Barley-meal& if the Objection, which I have stated, held good against the humanization of Acorns it would have held good against the introduction of Potatoes & Barley, as human Food. 1836 N. WISEMAN 12 Lect. Sci. & Relig. I. iii. 184 Advancing..in this road to humanization..their jabbering resolved itself into articulate sounds. 1858 J. MARTINEAU Stud. Christianity 100 This degrading humanization of the Deity. 1883 Cent. Mag. 27 113/2 The complete humanization of nature. 1925 G. K. CHESTERTON Everlasting Man II. i. 193 Here begins..another mighty influence for the humanisation of Christendom. 1986 W. WEAVER tr. U. Eco Trav. in Hyper Reality i. 52 In the humanization of animals is concealed one of the most clever resources of the Absolute Fake industry. 1999 J. ELLIOT Unexpected Light (2000) ix. 351 There is no humanization of the Absolute in Islam.

    3. a. The treatment of (usually cow's) milk, originally by the addition of water and sugar, to make it more similar to human milk. Cf. HUMANIZED adj. 3b. Now rare.

1904 Public Health 16 290 The process of humanization adapts the milk to the weakly infants' digestive organs. 1932 V. E. M. BENNETT Welfare Infant & Child v. 70 When cows' milk is to be used for feeding the infant two modifications are always requisite... These two processes are known respectively as Humanization and Pasteurization. 1961 Amer. Jrnl. Dis. Children 102 381/1 Attempts at ‘humanization’ reached a peak in the 1910's. 1977 Jrnl. Hygiene 78 236 Dried bovine milk without supplements or ‘humanization’..was dried skimmed milk. 1994 A. H. ENSMINGER et al. Foods & Nutrition Encycl. (ed. 2) II. 1222/2 The first major advances in the ‘humanization’ of cow's milk were made around the middle of the 19th century by the great German chemist Justus von Liebig who showed by chemical analyses that cow's milk was considerably higher in protein and lower in carbohydrate than human milk.

    b. Biol. The action or process of humanizing an antibody, organism, etc. (cf. HUMANIZE v. 4b).

1987 Jrnl. Immunol. Methods 104 28/2 In addition CRIB [= cellulose acetate roll immunoblot] is very suitable for hybridoma screening when secondary Fc manipulation such as ‘humanization’ by transfection is to be carried out. 2001 Sci. Amer. Oct. 32/2 Another strategy, called humanization, is behind five more products on the market, including Herceptin, the breast cancer-targeting monoclonal antibody developed by Genentech. 2005 Drug Discov. Today 10 1026/1 Humanization of mice was seen as a possible way to address some of these issues.

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