allow
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: ə-lou'
ipa: /əˈlaʊ/
rhymes: -aʊ
Forms: form: allows
form: allowing
form: allowed
form: allowed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: allow
form: allow
form: allowed
form: allow
form: allowest
form: allowed
form: allowedst
form: allows
form: alloweth
form: allowed
form: allow
form: allowed
form: allow
form: allowed
form: allow
form: -
form: allowing
form: allowed
Etymology: From Middle English allowen, alowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman allouer, alouer, from Medieval Latin allaudāre, merged with alouer, from Medieval Latin allocō (“to assign”). Doublet of allaud (via allaudāre) or allocate (via allocāre).
The similarity with Middle English alyfen (from Old English ālīefan) and German erlauben, both from Proto-Germanic *uzlaubijaną (“to allow”) is coincidental.
Senses: examples: text: to allow a servant his liberty; to allow a free passage; to allow one day for rest
text: […] he needed a great deal of money, but his uncle only allowed him two thousand roubles a year, which was not enough, and for days together he would run about Moscow with his tongue out, as the saying is.
ref: 2004 [1895], Constance, transl. Garnett, “Ariadne”, in The Darling: and Other Stories, translation of original by Anton Chekhov:
glosses: To let one have as a suitable share of something.
examples: text: I will allow my son to be absent.
text: With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get[…]
ref: 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
glosses: To permit, to give permission to.
examples: text: Although I don't consent to their holding such meetings, I will allow them for the time being.
text: Smoking (is) allowed only in designated areas.
text: The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.
ref: 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:
glosses: To not bar or obstruct.
examples: text: to allow a right; to allow a claim; to allow an appeal
text: You must allow that disagreeing about politics puts a strain on a relationship.
text: Mr. Knightley, I shall not allow you to be a fair judge in this case.
ref: 1815, Jane Austen, chapter 5, in Emma, volume 1:
text: I allow, with Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome's conduct[…]was highly reprehensible.
ref: 1855, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes:
text: Half the night passed before the wench allowed that it might be safe to stop.
ref: 2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “Jaime [Lannister]”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 127:
glosses: To acknowledge, accept the truth of; to concede; to accede to an opinion.
examples: text: to allow a sum for leakage
glosses: To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.
examples: text: When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.
glosses: To make an allowance, to take into account when making plans.
examples: text: The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill.
ref: 1824, Washington Irving, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, in Tales of a Traveller:
text: A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
ref: 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
glosses: To render physically possible.
examples: text: Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 11:48:
text: We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning.
ref: 1842, Thomas Fuller, Church History of Britain:
glosses: To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
examples: text: Therefore so please thee to return with us,
And of our Athens—thine and ours—to take
The captainship, thou shalt be met with thanks,
Allow'd with absolute power, and thy good name
Live with authority. So soon we shall drive back
Of Alcibiades the approaches wild,
Who, like a boar too savage, doth root up
His country's peace.
ref: 1623, William Shakespeare, The Life of Timon of Athens:
glosses: To sanction; to invest; to entrust.
examples: text: How allow you the model of these clothes?
ref: 1632, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, The Fatal Dowry, act 4, scene 1:
glosses: To like; to be suited or pleased with.
examples: text: to allow an objection
translation: to find in favour of the objection and forbid the conduct objected to
english: to find in favour of the objection and forbid the conduct objected to
text: to allow an appeal
translation: to decide the appeal in favour of the appellant (contrast grant leave to appeal, to permit an appeal to be heard)
english: to decide the appeal in favour of the appellant (contrast grant leave to appeal, to permit an appeal to be heard)
topics: law
glosses: To decide (a request) in favour of the party who raised it; to grant victory to a party regarding (a request).
examples: text: Easy on violence, now I doubt it
I could’ve banged this face but allowed it
ref: 2021 November 3, “Who's My man?”, Starzzy #MostHated (lyrics), 0:30:
glosses: To forgo bothering with, to let slide.
Synonyms: sense: let have
word: grant
sense: let have
word: admit
sense: let have
word: afford
sense: let have
word: yield
sense: let have
word: give
sense: let have
word: permit
sense: let have
word: allot
sense: let have
word: bestow
sense: let have
word: concede
sense: give permission
word: permit
sense: give permission
word: let
sense: give permission
word: grant licence to
sense: give permission
word: consent
sense: give permission
word: grant
sense: not bar or obstruct
word: tolerate
sense: not bar or obstruct
word: suffer
sense: not bar or obstruct
word: permit
sense: not bar or obstruct
word: admit
sense: not bar or obstruct
word: concede
sense: acknowledge the truth of
word: concede
sense: acknowledge the truth of
word: accede
sense: acknowledge the truth of
word: acquiesce
Derived terms: allowability
allowable
allowance
allowee
allower
allow for
allowingly
allow it
allowment
allow nature to take her
its course
disallowance
reallow
unallowing
Related terms: allowance
disallow