transfigure
\ trans-FIG-yer or, esp. British, -FIG-er \ , verb;
1.to change in outward form or appearance; transform.
2.to change so as to glorify or exalt.
Quotes:
The uprolled clouds and the colors of morning and evening will transfigure maples and alders.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature," 1836
If ever he tries to transfigure a woman, he will not transfigure her as cruelly as Picasso does, bending and twisting her body like metal in a fiery furnace. Writers are not like painters anyway: they are more dogged, more subtle.
-- J. M. Coetzee, "Youth: Scenes from a Provincial Life II," 2002
Origin:
Transfigure came to English in the 14th century from the Latin trānsfigūrāre meaning "to change in shape."
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