The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fortify \For"ti*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fortified; p. pr. & vb. n. Fortifying.] [F. fortifier, L. fortificare; fortis strong + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Fort, and -fy.]
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To add strength to; to strengthen; to confirm; to furnish with power to resist attack.
Timidity was fortified by pride.
--Gibbon.Pride came to the aid of fancy, and both combined to fortify his resolution.
--Sir W. Scott. To strengthen and secure by forts or batteries, or by surrounding with a wall or ditch or other military works; to render defensible against an attack by hostile forces.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of fortify English)
WordNet
adj. invigorating physically or mentally [syn: strengthening]
Usage examples of "fortifying".
The three first days Caesar employed in fortifying his camp with strong works, in bringing in corn from the neighboring free towns, and waiting for the rest of his forces.
Caesar made his soldiers again return to the works, and under pretense of fortifying his camp, inured the new levies to labor and fatigue.
He spent the summer fortifying it and had 9,000 men—or about half the patriot army—to man his lines.
They would also block the roads from Ticonderoga through Skenesborough to Albany by felling trees, destroying bridges, and creating other impediments, while fortifying strong positions in the hills and woods.
At a council of war, most of the officers favored fortifying the position they held—Clermont being a place “strong by nature and capable of being made stronger by art.
Steuben wrote to Greene, “Cornwallis is fortifying himself like a brave general who must fall.
Danielle took another fortifying breath and examined her surroundings.