improve

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman emprouwer, from Old French en- + prou (“profit”), from Vulgar Latin prode (“advantageous, profitable”).

verb

1. (transitive) To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).
   Painting the woodwork will improve this house.
   Buying more servers would improve performance.
   Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. 2013-06-22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70
2. (intransitive) To become better.
   I have improved since taking the tablets.
   The error messages have improved since the last version, when they were incomprehensible.
3. (obsolete) To disprove or make void; to refute.
4. (obsolete) To disapprove of; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure.
5. (dated) To use or employ to good purpose; to turn to profitable account.
   to improve one's time;  to improve his means
   How doth the little busy bee / Improve each shining hour. 1715, Isaac Watts, Against Idleness and Mischief
   March 7, 1778, George Washington, letter True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion.