3. Authorized; real; genuine; not false, counterfeit, or spurious; as,
legitimate poems of Chaucer; legitimate inscriptions.
4. Conforming to known principles, or accepted rules; as, legitimate
reasoning; a legitimate standard, or method; a legitimate combination
of colors.
Tillotson still keeps his place as a legitimate English classic.
Macaulay.
5. Following by logical sequence; reasonable; as, a legitimate result;
a legitimate inference.
Le*git"i*mate (-mt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Legitimated (- m`td); p. pr. &
vb. n. Legitimating (-m`tng).] To make legitimate, lawful, or valid;
esp., to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the
law, by legal means; as, to legitimate a bastard child.
To enact a statute of that which he dares not seem to approve, even
to legitimate vice.
Milton.
Le*git"i*mate*ly (-mt*l), adv. In a legitimate manner; lawfully;
genuinely.
Le*git"i*mate*ness, n. The state or quality of being legitimate;
lawfulness; genuineness.