reclaim

Etymology

From Middle English reclaymen, recleymen, reclamen, from Anglo-Norman reclamer (noun reclaim and Middle French reclamer (noun reclaim), from Latin reclāmō, reclāmāre.

verb

1. (transitive) To return land to a suitable condition for use.
2. (transitive) To obtain useful products from waste; to recycle.
3. (transitive) To claim something back; to repossess.
4. (transitive, dated) To return someone to a proper course of action, or correct an error; to reform.
   Your errour, in time reclaimed, will be veniall. 1609, Edward Hoby, A Letter to Mr. T[heophilus] H[iggons], late Minister: now Fugitive ... in answere of his first Motive
   It is the intention of Providence, in all the various expressions of his goodness, to reclaim mankind. a. 1729, John Rogers, The Goodness of God a Motive to Repentance
5. (transitive, archaic) To tame or domesticate a wild animal.
6. (transitive, archaic) To call back from flight or disorderly action; to call to, for the purpose of subduing or quieting.
   They were the head-strong horses, who hurried Octavius […] along, and were deaf to his reclaiming them.
7. (transitive, archaic) To cry out in opposition or contradiction; to exclaim against anything; to contradict; to take exceptions.
   Scripture reclaims, and the whole Catholic church reclaims, and Christian ears would not bear it. 1719, Daniel Waterland, A Vindication of Christ's Divinit
   At a later period Grote reclaimed strongly against Mill's setting Whately above Hamilton. 1882, Alexander Bain, Biography of James Mill
8. (obsolete, rare) To draw back; to give way.
9. (intransitive, law, Scotland) To appeal from the Lord Ordinary to the inner house of the Court of Session.
10. (sociology) To bring back a term into acceptable usage, usually of a slur, and usually by the group that was once targeted by that slur.
    Once a term of homophobic abuse, the term “queer” has been reclaimed as a marker for some gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT), and other marginalized sexual identities.

noun

1. (obsolete, falconry) The calling back of a hawk.
2. (obsolete) The bringing back or recalling of a person; the fetching of someone back.
3. An effort to take something back, to reclaim something.
4. baggage reclaim