Visit (v)

I. 1. a. trans. Of the Deity: To come to (persons) in order to comfort or benefit.

1645 CARYL Expos. Job I. 636 When God comes in kindness and love to do us good, he visiteth us.

3. a. To inflict hurt, harm, or punishment upon (a person); to deal severely or hardly with (persons or things); {dag}to cut off, cause to die.

1382 WYCLIF Isa. xxvi. 14 Therfore thou hast visityd, and to-brosedest hem, and lost al the mynde of hem.

b. To afflict or distress with sickness, poverty, or the like.

1624 J. USHER in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 131 It pleased God to visite me with a quartan.

4. a. Of sickness, etc.: To come upon (a person or persons), to assail or afflict. Freq. in passive and const. with or by.

c1340 HAMPOLE Pr. Consc. 1980 Als we suld ilk day {th}eded fele, And byde noght til {th}e dede us vyset. 1645 CARYL Expos. Job I. 636 When a house hath the Plague,..we use to say, Such a house is visited. 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 148/1 Some which were..tended with constant care, all died: and similar mortality has visited others also.

II. 7. a. To make a practice of going to (persons in sickness or distress) in order to comfort or assist them.

b. Similarly with reference to individual cases.