WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Al*low"
Part of Speech : v. t. [imp. & p. p. Allowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Allowing.]
Etymology : [OE. alouen, OF. alouer, aloer, aluer, F. allouer, fr. LL. allocare to admit as proved, to place, use; confused with OF. aloer, fr. L. allaudare to extol; ad + laudare to praise. See Local, and cf. Allocate, Laud.]
Definition : 1. To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction. [Obs. or Archaic] Ye allow the deeds of your fathers. Luke xi. 48. We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning. Fuller.

2. To like; to be suited or pleased with. [Obs.] How allow you the model of these clothes Massinger.

3. To sanction; to invest; to intrust. [Obs.] Thou shalt be . . . allowed with absolute power. Shak.

4. To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have; as, to allow a servant his liberty; to allow a free passage; to allow one day for rest. He was allowed about three hundred pounds a year. Macaulay.

5. To own or acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion; as, to allow a right; to allow a claim; to allow the truth of a proposition. I allow, with Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome's conduct . . . was highly reprehensible. Thackeray.

6. To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; esp. to abate or deduct; as, to allow a sum for leakage.

7. To grant license to; to permit; to consent to; as, to allow a son to be absent.

Syn. -- To allot; assign; bestow; concede; admit; permit; suffer; tolerate. See Permit.


Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Al*low"
Part of Speech : v. i.
Definition : Defn: To admit; to concede; to make allowance or abatement. Allowing still for the different ways of making it. Addison. To allow of, to permit; to admit. Shak.


Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913