Definition: realize

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

realize
     v 1: be fully aware or cognizant of [syn: recognize, recognise,
           realise, agnize, agnise]
     2: perceive mentally, as of an idea; "Now I see!"; "I just
        can't see your point"; "Does she realize how important
        this decision is?"; "I don't understand the idea" [syn: understand,
         realise, see]
     3: make real or concrete; give reality to [syn: realise, actualize,
         actualise]
     4: earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as
        salary or wages; "How much do you make a month in your new
        job?" "She earns a lot in her new job"; "this merger
        brought in lots of money"; "He clears $5,000 each month"
        [syn: gain, take in, clear, make, earn, realise,
         pull in, bring in]
     5: convert into cash; of goods and property [syn: realise]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Realize \Re"al*ize\, v. t.
   To convert any kind of property into money, especially
   property representing investments, as shares in stock
   companies, bonds, etc.

         Wary men took the alarm, and began to realize, a word
         now first brought into use to express the conversion of
         ideal property into something real.      --W. Irving.
Realize \Re"al*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Realized; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Realizing.] [Cf. F. r['e]aliser.]
   1. To make real; to convert from the imaginary or fictitious
      into the actual; to bring into concrete existence; to
      accomplish; as, to realize a scheme or project.

            We realize what Archimedes had only in hypothesis,
            weighting a single grain against the globe of earth.
                                                  --Glanvill.

   2. To cause to seem real; to impress upon the mind as actual;
      to feel vividly or strongly; to make one's own in
      apprehension or experience.

            Many coincidences . . . soon begin to appear in them
            [Greek inscriptions] which realize ancient history
            to us.                                --Jowett.

            We can not realize it in thought, that the object .
            . . had really no being at any past moment. --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.

   3. To convert into real property; to make real estate of; as,
      to realize his fortune.

   4. To acquire as an actual possession; to obtain as the
      result of plans and efforts; to gain; to get; as, to
      realize large profits from a speculation.

            Knighthood was not beyond the reach of any man who
            could by diligent thrift realize a good estate.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   5. To convert into actual money; as, to realize assets.