amending

Verb

amend (third-person singular simple present amends, present participle amending, simple past and past participle amended)

1. (transitive) To make better; improve.
   • Mud not the fountain that gave drink to thee;
     Mar not the thing that cannot be amended.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC
2. (intransitive) To become better.
   • The teacher sat at one end of the bench, with a meek little fellow by his side. When the others were disorderly, this young martyr received a rap; intended, probably, as a sample of what the rest might expect, if they didn't amend.1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC
3. (obsolete, transitive) To heal (someone sick); to cure (a disease etc.).
   • But Paridell complaynd, that his late fight / With Britomart, so sore did him offend, / That ryde he could not, till his hurts he did amend.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be healed, to be cured, to recover (from an illness).
   • Ay, sir; there are a crew of wretched souls
     That stay his cure: their malady convinces
     The great assay of art; but at his touch—
     Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand—
     They presently amend.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
5. (transitive) To make a formal alteration (in legislation, a report, etc.) by adding, deleting, or rephrasing.
   • We amended the rules so that we could admit 20 more members to the club.

See all 7 meanings of amend