From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Amend \A*mend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Amended}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Amending}.] [F. amender, L. emendare; e (ex) + mendum,
menda, fault, akin to Skr. minda personal defect. Cf.
{Emend}, {Mend}.]
To change or modify in any way for the better; as,
(a) by simply removing what is erroneous, corrupt,
superfluous, faulty, and the like;
(b) by supplying deficiencies;
(c) by substituting something else in the place of what is
removed; to rectify.
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Mar not the thing that can not be amended. --Shak.
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An instant emergency, granting no possibility for
revision, or opening for amended thought. --De
Quincey.
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We shall cheer her sorrows, and amend her blood, by
wedding her to a Norman. --Sir W.
Scott.
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{To amend a bill}, to make some change in the details or
provisions of a bill or measure while on its passage,
professedly for its improvement.
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Syn: To {Amend}, {Emend}, {Correct}, {Reform}, {Rectify}.
Usage: These words agree in the idea of bringing things into
a more perfect state. We correct (literally, make
straight) when we conform things to some standard or
rule; as, to correct proof sheets. We amend by
removing blemishes, faults, or errors, and thus
rendering a thing more a nearly perfect; as, to amend
our ways, to amend a text, the draft of a bill, etc.
Emend is only another form of amend, and is applied
chiefly to editions of books, etc. To reform is
literally to form over again, or put into a new and
better form; as, to reform one's life. To rectify is
to make right; as, to rectify a mistake, to rectify
abuses, inadvertencies, etc.
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