Backing you up with some more sources: Webster's 1828 dictionary [1], which the grandparent cited, does not have the "make regular" definition, but rather definitions consistent with modern usage:
>1. To adjust by rule, method or established mode; as, to regulate weights and measures; to regulate the assize of bread; to regulate our moral conduct by the laws of God and of society; to regulate our manners by the customary forms.
>2. To put in good order; as, to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances.
>3. To subject to rules or restrictions; as, to regulate trade; to regulate diet.
Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary [2] has much briefer definitions, but also defines regulate in an interventionist, controlling sense:
>1. To adjust by rule or method.
>2. To direct.
There is absolutely no basis for the claim that "regulate" used to mean something like the opposite of what it now means.
Backing you up with some more sources: Webster's 1828 dictionary [1], which the grandparent cited, does not have the "make regular" definition, but rather definitions consistent with modern usage:
>1. To adjust by rule, method or established mode; as, to regulate weights and measures; to regulate the assize of bread; to regulate our moral conduct by the laws of God and of society; to regulate our manners by the customary forms.
>2. To put in good order; as, to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances.
>3. To subject to rules or restrictions; as, to regulate trade; to regulate diet.
Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary [2] has much briefer definitions, but also defines regulate in an interventionist, controlling sense:
>1. To adjust by rule or method.
>2. To direct.
There is absolutely no basis for the claim that "regulate" used to mean something like the opposite of what it now means.
[1] https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/regulate
[2] https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=r...