freshen

verb18

1. •
   To become fresh.
2. •
   To be refreshed.

   • Ah, how my spirit freshens, as I taste That life-restoring breeze! — 1799
3. •
   To make fresh.
4. •
   To refresh; to revive; to renew.

   • … the good Druid went to seeke out some hearbs by the bank sides, which he knew were good to be applyed unto my wounds, and which would a little freshen and invigorate my spirits — 1657
5. •
   To make green (vegetation that has become dry).

   • [The animals] were not valuable enough to be worth the trouble of saving until rain came to fill the holes and freshen the pastures. — 1915
6. •
   To remove or cover unpleasant qualities such as staleness, bad odour or taste (in air, breath, water, etc.).

   • Tajirika found him trying to freshen the air in the chamber with perfume, but no amount of perfume could quite remove the stink in the offices of the Ruler. — 2007
7. •
   To touch up (makeup); to give (a body part, especially the face) a quick wash.

   • It was after seven, she was freshening her lipstick and perking up her appearance [...] — 1958
8. •
   To touch up the paint on (something).

   • I remember feeling disappointed [...] because the great sign of a trumpeter designed by Rooke, the Pre-Raphaelite artist, had been freshened by some inferior hand. — 1922
9. •
   To top up (a drink).

   • She dried her eyes and blew her nose and picked up her drink. ¶ Cass stared at her helplessly. “Let me freshen it for you,” she said, and took the glass into the kitchen. — 1962
10. •
    (historical) To top up (primer) in a firearm.

    • Freshen the priming of your pistols—the mist of the falls is apt to dampen the brimstone—and stand firm for a close struggle, while I fire on their rush. — 1826
11. •
    To become stronger.

    • [...] the wind freshen’d, and carryed our Maintop-mast by the board; in which disaster, the man that was lower-most, and least in danger, fell over-board, and was drowned — 1674
12. •
    To become cool.

    • They breed, says M. Deshayes, in the heats of autumn, and during the freshening air of winter, at St. Domingo … — 1793
13. •
    To make cool.
14. •
    To become not salty, to lose its salinity. (of water)

    • They [...] drank from fresh-water lakes formed where old salt ice had freshened and melted [...] — 1949
15. •
    To make less salty; to separate, as water, from saline ingredients.
16. •
    To begin or resume giving milk, especially after calving; to cause to resume giving milk.

    • For Sale—Three registered holstein cows. Due to freshen the first of Jan. February and March. Prices that will sell. Age three and five years. Eugune Gibson, Smyrna. — 1919
17. •
    To give redness to (the face or cheeks of a person with light skin).

    • It was a breezy sunny day; the air freshened the girl's cheeks, and gracefully dishevelled their ringlets: […] — 1849
18. •
    To relieve, as a rope, by change of place where friction wears it; or to renew, as the material used to prevent chafing.