transitive verb.
To approve and give formal sanction to; confirm.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
To confirm; establish; settle conclusively or authoritatively; make certain or lasting.
To validate by some formal act of approval; accept and sanction, as something done by an agent or a representative; confirm as a valid act or procedure.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
transitive verb.
To approve and sanction; to make valid; to confirm; to establish; to settle; especially, to give sanction to, as something done by an agent or servant