Verb (used with object), : Rome civilized the barbarians.    From Dictionary.com. 

Or maybe they did, but didn't realise it, and somehow switched them to unicameral in the process of trying to "civilise" them.    From Wordnik.com.  [amuchmoreexotic: I've just finished reading Consciousness] Reference

In one episode he tries to "civilise" his tenants.    From Wordnik.com.  [Le Monde diplomatique - English edition] Reference

This is taken advantage of to 'civilise' the African with a view to making him a perpetual minor.    From Wordnik.com.  [ANC Youth League Manifesto - 1944] Reference

As the African accepted none of these measures to 'civilise' him without a struggle, the Trustees had always been worried by his prospects as long as the.    From Wordnik.com.  [ANC Youth League Manifesto - 1944] Reference

A matter of fact that they had a manifest destiny to "civilise" the "primitive".    From Wordnik.com.  [ANC Today] Reference

I agree with the need to civilise the uncivilised.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2006-07-01] Reference

'You've got to civilise them somehow,' said Wally Scubber.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Rude Awakening]

They were jolly lads, but it was our duty to civilise them.    From Wordnik.com.  [See Delphi and Die]

Bookninja » Blog Archive » “Libraries civilise us all”.    From Wordnik.com.  [“Libraries civilise us all”] Reference

'It is a pity they don't come and try to civilise us, then,' said.    From Wordnik.com.  [Gladys, the Reaper] Reference

God-given duty to free, civilise and elevate Africans - the ‘lower’ races.    From Wordnik.com.  [Address to the Parliament of the Republic of Uganda] Reference

The population of Ecclefigg are a parcel of brutes - we want to civilise them. '.    From Wordnik.com.  [Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte] Reference

Nowadays, the European Union spends a lot of money earned by European work, to civilise Eastern Europe.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Brain, A Decoded Enigma] Reference

As for the tribes … look here, I don't say you can civilise a Masai Elmoran now … but they're a long way off.    From Wordnik.com.  [Flashman and the angel of the lord]

As for the tribes ... look here, I don't say you can civilise a Masai Elmoran now ... but they're a long way off.    From Wordnik.com.  [Flashman and the angel of the lord]

"Remember, all this money we get for licensing the saloon will go for charity or to help educate and civilise the people!".    From Wordnik.com.  [Mr. World and Miss Church-Member A twentieth century allegory] Reference

As part of our anti-spam campaign, please input the text you see in this image (required) « “Libraries civilise us all”.    From Wordnik.com.  [Mobile apps lead new publicity charge] Reference

Livingstone came to civilise the 'Dark Continent' and how "he did more than anyone else to bring slavery in Africa to an end".    From Wordnik.com.  [ANC Daily News Briefing] Reference

The inference is that the nut whence it sprang drifted ashore after his attempt to civilise the vicinity by the planting of seeds.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Confessions of a Beachcomber] Reference

It would still be advisable to “humanise the governors of prisons, to civilise the warders, and to Christianise the Chaplains.”.    From Wordnik.com.  [Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions] Reference

"A society without courts cannot continue to function in a civilise manner and must descend ultimately into a state of social anarchy.".    From Wordnik.com.  [ANC Daily News Briefing] Reference

Hence the relevance of the Service Corps -, which was established to provide alternative skills for soldiers, when time to civilise come.    From Wordnik.com.  [SPEECH BY S B NTULI DURING DEBATE ON THE DEFENCE BUDGET] Reference

'So you try to civilise your peasants,' she said at last.    From Wordnik.com.  [Robert Elsmere] Reference

He wanted to civilise the fledgling country's mostly convict population.    From Wordnik.com.  [Latest News - Yahoo!7 News] Reference

You cannot educate, you cannot civilise men, unless you can give them a share in art.    From Wordnik.com.  [Hopes and Fears for Art] Reference

The Victorians had an empire to run - and to civilise, as they saw it - and sport was their vehicle.    From Wordnik.com.  [Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph] Reference

We shall do more to civilise Africa by civilising the East End of London than by governing from Cape to.    From Wordnik.com.  [British Socialism An Examination of Its Doctrines, Policy, Aims and Practical Proposals] Reference

Why, what I say, sir; I'd civilise him, and show him something different to hitting a man behind his back.    From Wordnik.com.  [Jack at Sea All Work and no Play made him a Dull Boy] Reference

After having for a long time struggled to civilise this wild woman, the poet saw he must abandon the task.    From Wordnik.com.  [Femmes d'artistes. English] Reference

Our amusement for some time every evening was endeavouring to civilise our young prisoner, the little nshiego.    From Wordnik.com.  [In the Wilds of Africa] Reference

British ancestors took many centuries to civilise themselves, before they could send free and intelligent settlers to America.    From Wordnik.com.  [Roughing It in the Bush] Reference

The quiet gods, without effort of their own, have grown holier and purer by the agitations and toil which civilise their worshippers.    From Wordnik.com.  [Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3) Essay 4: Joseph de Maistre] Reference

He is both physically and intellectually the more powerful man, and although he does not christianise well, he does often civilise well.    From Wordnik.com.  [Travels in West Africa] Reference