allow

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Verb 1.3.1 Synonyms 1.3.2 Derived terms 1.3.3 Translations 1.4 References

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English allouen, from Old French alouer , from Medieval Latin allaudāre (“‘to praise’”), (ad-) + laudare, merged with alouer, from Medieval Latin allocāre (“‘to assign’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈlaʊ/, SAMPA: /@"laU/
• enPR: ə-lou'
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -aʊ

[edit] Verb

to allow (third-person singular simple present allows, present participle allowing, simple past and past participle allowed)

1. (transitive) To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have.

   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. — Thomas Babington Macaulay.

2. (transitive) To acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion.

   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. — William Makepeace Thackeray.

3. (transitive) To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; esp. to abate or deduct;

   To allow a sum for leakage.

4. (transitive) To grant license to; to permit; to consent to.

   To allow a son to be absent

   Smoking allowed only in designated areas.

5. (intransitive) To let something happen, to admit; to concede;
6. (transitive) To take into account by making an allowance.

   When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.

[edit] Synonyms

allot; assign; bestow; concede; admit; permit; suffer; tolerate.

[edit] Derived terms

• allowance

[edit] Translations

[edit] References

• allow in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913