provant
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English[edit]
Adjective[edit]
provant (comparative more provant, superlative most provant)
- (obsolete) Provided for common or general use, as in an army; hence, common in quality; inferior.
- 1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act III, scene i:
- a poor provant rapier
Noun[edit]
provant
- (obsolete) provender; food
- c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665):
- When I want prouant wth: Humfrie
I sup, & when benighted,
I repose in Powles wth: waking soules,
Yet neuer am affrighted.- When I lack food, I go
without it, and when benighted,
I repose in St. Paul’s (graveyard) with ghosts,
Yet am never scared.
- When I lack food, I go
- When I want prouant wth: Humfrie
- c. 1612–1615?, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, revised by Philip Massinger, “Loves Cure or, The Martial Maid”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene i:
- One pease was a soldier's provant a whole day.
- c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665):
Verb[edit]
provant (third-person singular simple present provants, present participle provanting, simple past and past participle provanted)
- (obsolete, transitive) To supply with provender or provisions; to provide for.
- 1599, Thomas Nash, Nashes Lenten Stuffe[1]:
- ...should not only supply her inhabitants with plentiful purveyance of sustenance, but provant and victual moreover this monstrous army of strangers […]
Related terms[edit]
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “provant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Catalan[edit]
Verb[edit]
provant