The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Amend \A*mend"\ ([.a]*m[e^]nd"), v. i.
   To grow better by rectifying something wrong in manners or
   morals; to improve. "My fortune . . . amends." --Sir P.
   Sidney.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Amend \A*mend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Amended; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Amending.] [F. amender, L. emendare; e (ex) + mendum,
   menda, fault, akin to Skr. minda personal defect. Cf.
   Emend, Mend.]
   To change or modify in any way for the better; as,
   (a) by simply removing what is erroneous, corrupt,
       superfluous, faulty, and the like;
   (b) by supplying deficiencies;
   (c) by substituting something else in the place of what is
       removed; to rectify.
       [1913 Webster]

             Mar not the thing that can not be amended. --Shak.
       [1913 Webster]

             An instant emergency, granting no possibility for
             revision, or opening for amended thought. --De
                                                  Quincey.
       [1913 Webster]

             We shall cheer her sorrows, and amend her blood, by
             wedding her to a Norman.             --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
       [1913 Webster]

   To amend a bill, to make some change in the details or
      provisions of a bill or measure while on its passage,
      professedly for its improvement.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To Amend, Emend, Correct, Reform, Rectify.

   Usage: These words agree in the idea of bringing things into
          a more perfect state. We correct (literally, make
          straight) when we conform things to some standard or
          rule; as, to correct proof sheets. We amend by
          removing blemishes, faults, or errors, and thus
          rendering a thing more a nearly perfect; as, to amend
          our ways, to amend a text, the draft of a bill, etc.
          Emend is only another form of amend, and is applied
          chiefly to editions of books, etc. To reform is
          literally to form over again, or put into a new and
          better form; as, to reform one's life. To rectify is
          to make right; as, to rectify a mistake, to rectify
          abuses, inadvertencies, etc.
          [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

amend
    v 1: make amendments to; "amend the document"
    2: to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his
       changes" [syn: better, improve, amend, ameliorate,
       meliorate] [ant: aggravate, exacerbate, exasperate,
       worsen]
    3: set straight or right; "remedy these deficiencies"; "rectify
       the inequities in salaries"; "repair an oversight" [syn:
       rectify, remediate, remedy, repair, amend]