tranquilize

Verb

tranquilize (third-person singular simple present tranquilizes, present participle tranquilizing, simple past and past participle tranquilized)

1. (transitive) To calm (a person or animal) or put them to sleep using a tranquilizer dart.
   • The escaped lion was finally tracked down, tranquilized, and safely returned to the zoo.
   • Miss Ratched shall line us all against the wall, where we’ll face the terrible maw of a muzzle-loading shotgun which she has loaded with Miltowns! Thorazines! Libriums! Stelazines! And with a wave of her sword, blooie! Tranquilize all of us completely out of existence.1962, Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, New York: Dial, page 255

   Synonyms:

   dart, sedate

2. (literary, transitive) To make (something or someone) tranquil.
   • […] with words of sweetest kindness and consolation, he soothed and tranquilised me.1779, Frances Burney, Evelina, Dublin: Price, Corcoran et al., Volume 2, Letter 14, p. 87
   • […] I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose,—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington...

   Synonyms:

   appease, calm, pacify

3. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To become tranquil.
   • Seest thou not, that this unseasonable gravity is admitted to quell the palpitations of this unmanageable heart? But still it will go on with its boundings. I’ll try, as I ride in my chariot, to tranquillize.1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter I”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume V, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 11

   Synonyms:

   calm down, relax

4. (transitive) To dart (a person or animal) with a sedative
   • The bear should go down several minutes after being tranquilized.
   • Moose should only be down about 15 to 20 minutes after being tranquilized.2004 March 15, Laura Hancock, Deseret News