/ˈɹaɪpən/
OriginFrom Middle English *ripenen, extended form of ripen, from Old English rīpian. In the modern form, equivalent to ripe + -en (inchoative and factitive suffix). As in several other verbs, the alteration seems to have occurred during the time when the infinitive and plural ending -en was in the process of being lost (and was thus open to reinterpretation). The earliest attestation is deverbal Middle English ripening (“causing ripeness, ripening”).
- intransitiveto grow ripe; to become mature (said of grain, fruit, flowers etc.)
“Grapes ripen in the sun.”
“[…] the desert soil of the Great Basin is as rich in the elements that in rainy regions rise and ripen into food as that of any other State in the Union.”
- intransitiveTo approach or come to perfection.
“The acquaintance soon ripened into a warm attachment.”
- transitiveTo cause (something) to mature; to make ripe
“The warm sun ripened the corn.”
- transitiveTo mature; to fit or prepare; to bring to perfection
“ripen the judgment”
“When Faith and Love which parted from thee never
Had ripen'd thy just soul to dwell with God”
“But the decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatneſs. Proſperity ripened the principle of decay; the cauſes of deſtruction multiplied with the extent of conqueſt; and ”
Formsripens(present, singular, third-person) · ripening(participle, present) · ripened(participle, past) · ripened(past)
Source: Wiktionary