bestow
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: PIE word
 *h₁epi
The verb is derived from Middle English bestowen, bistouen, bistowen (“to give, bestow; to apply (something to something else); to arrange or have control over (something); to place (someone) in a position; to use (for some purpose); (reflexive) to find (oneself) a place to live or shelter”) [and other forms], from bi- (prefix forming verbs, often with a completive, figurative, or intensive meaning) + stouen, stowen (“to pack (cargo) in a ship, stow; to place (someone) in a certain position; to provide quarters for, lodge; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to place; to stand (up)”)). The English word is analysable as be- (intensifying prefix forming verbs) + stow (“to put (something) away in a suitable place; etc.”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Base: stow
Affixes: be-
Inflected forms:
form: bestows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: bestowing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: bestowed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: bestowed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: bestow
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: bestow
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: bestowed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: bestow
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: bestowest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: bestowed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: bestowedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: bestows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: bestoweth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: bestowed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: bestow
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: bestowed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: bestow
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: bestowed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: bestow
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: bestowing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: bestowed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To apply or make use of (someone or something); to employ, to use.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: All the voide time, that is betwene the huores of woorke ſlepe and meat, that they be ſuffered to beſtowe, euerye man as he lyketh beſte hym ſelfe.
[S]ince the voyce / Of moſt ſupreme Authority commands / My abſence: I determine to beſtovv / Some time in learning Languages abroad; […]
Richmond, thy purling ſtreams and pleaſing ſhades, / Might claim the chorus of Aonian maids; / VVhere e’en Apollo might his hours beſtovv, / By turns employ his lyre, by turns his bovv, / VVhere all the pleaſures dvvell, vvhich poets feign / On fair Arcadia’s fields or Tempe’s plain.
gloss: To apply or make use of (someone or something); to employ, to use.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
specifically
transitive
examples: O if I had had time to haue made nevv liueries: I vvoulde haue beſtovved the thouſand pound I borrovved of you, but tis no matter, this poore ſhevv doth better, this doth inferre the zeale I had to ſee him.
And thou ſhalt beſtow that money for whatſoeuer thy ſoule lutſeth after, for oxen, or for ſheepe, or for wine, or for ſtrong drinke, or for whatſoeuer thy ſoule deſireth: and thou ſhalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou ſhalt reioyce, thou and thine houſhold.
gloss: To impart (something) gratuitously; to present (something) to someone or something, especially as a gift or an honour; to confer, to give, to accord; to render.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I bestow upon you the name of Peter.
Medals were bestowed on the winning team.
For yͤ vngodly Athalia & hir ſonnes haue waiſted the houſe of God: and all that was halowed for the houſe of the LORDE, haue they beſtowed on Baalim.
Harke yee Lords, you ſee I haue giuen her Phiſicke, / And you muſt needs beſtovv her Funerall, […]
[H]e [Moses] beſtovveth on the ſtory of Abraham fourteene chapters, beginning vvith his birth in the eleuenth, and ending vvith his death in the fiue and tvventieth; and this time endured but 175. yeares.
Lord, I have heard that thou art a merciful God, and haſt ordained that thy Son Jeſus Chriſt ſhould be the Saviour of the VVorld, and moreover, that thou art vvilling to beſtovv him upon ſuch a poor ſinner as I am, […]
I am come to offer you gifts, vvhich only your ovvn folly can make vain. You here pray for vvater, and vvater vvill I beſtovv.
Soft tears again bedewed my cheeks, and I even raised my humid eyes with thankfulness towards the blessed sun which bestowed such joy upon me.
He stopped at the outer door to bestow the greetings of the season on the clerk, who, cold as he was, was warmer than Scrooge; for he returned them cordially.
Sometimes I am caught by a delightful fragment in a magazine, and blaze up into the fiercest interest, bestow maledictions on the delay which the intervening month creates, but am burnt out by the time it expires, and so lose the thread.
Do they [parents] not sneakingly bestow on me their crass inability to do anything with their own misbegotten progeny, a subterfuge which I scornfully fub off on text-books?
CERN bestows slush fund on the LHC. Take all pennies from the CERN space.
Why are women waiting for men — who are the majority of our politicians, justices and judges — to benevolently bestow equality unto us? Here you go, little ladies, welcome to our club, classroom, workplace and C-suite…if you play by our rules.
gloss: To place or put (someone or something) somewhere or in a certain situation; to dispose of.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: The diuell take the one partie, / And his dam the other, / And theyle be both beſtovved. / I haue endured more for their ſakes, / Then man is able to endure.
Moreover I haue […] beſtovved the chiefe grounds, Principles, Rules, and Obſeruations [of heraldry] vnder their proper heads, and manifeſted their vſe by examples of ſpeciall choice, […]
Here are blank warrants of all dispositions; give me but the name and nature of your malefactor, and I'll bestow him according to his merits.
VVith Bread the glitt’ring Caniſters they load, / VVhich round the Board Menætius’s Son beſtovv’d; […]
The white domestic pigeon pairs secure, / Nay, does mere duty by bestowing egg / In authorized compartment, warm and safe, / Boarding about, and gilded spire above, / Hoisted on pole, to dogs' and cats' despair!
gloss: To deposit (something) for safekeeping; to lay up (something) in store; to stow.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: The londes of a certayne man brought forth frutes plenteouſly⸝ and he thought in hym ſilfe ſayinge: whatt ſhall I do⸝ becauſe I have noo roume where to beſtowe my frutes?
Novv as I am a Chriſtian anſvver me, / In vvhat ſafe place you haue beſtovv'd my monie; / Or I ſhall breake that merrie ſconce of yours / That ſtands on tricks, vvhen I am vndiſpos'd: / VVhere is the thouſand Markes thou hadſt of me?
Near unto Aſſos, a citie in Troas, there is found in the quarries a certaine ſtone called Sarcophagus, […] The reaſon of the name is this, becauſe that vvithin the ſpace of fortie daies it is knovvne for certain to conſume the bodies of the dead vvhich are beſtovved therein, skin, fleſh, and bone, all ſave the teeth.
But as ſome of the Oxen in driving, miſſed their fellovvs behind and honing after them, bellovved as their nature is: Hercules chanced to heare them lovv again, and anſvver from out of the cave vvherein they had been beſtovved: vvhereat he turned back, and made haſte thither.
Of the Three Rings that the Elves had preserved unsullied no open word was ever spoken among the Wise, and few even of the Eldar knew where they were bestowed.
gloss: To provide (someone or oneself) with accommodation; to find quarters for (someone or oneself); to lodge, to quarter.
pos: verb
tags: also
archaic
reflexive
transitive
examples: The ſixteene daye of May they were al beſtovved abourd in Spaniſh ſhippes furniſhed with victual, & other neceſſaries for that iourney.
[…] I heare / Macduffe liues in diſgrace. Sir, can you tell / VVhere he beſtovves himſelfe?
VVell my Maſters, I'le leaue him with you; novv I ſee him beſtovv'd, I'le goe looke for my goods, and Numps.
See that the women are bestow'd in safety / In the remote apartments: let a guard / Be set before them, with strict charge to quit / The post but with their lives— […]
And meanwhile / Shall the Refectorarius bestow / Your horses and attendants for the night.
gloss: To behave or conduct (oneself); to acquit.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
reflexive
transitive
examples: Novv therefore vvould I haue thee to my Tutor / (For long agone I haue forgot to court, / Beſides the faſhion of the time is chang'd) / Hovv, and vvhich vvay I may beſtovv my ſelfe / To be regarded in her ſun-bright eye.
Hovv might vve ſee Falſtaffe beſtovv himſelf to night in his true colours, and not our ſelues be ſeene?
He all aſſayls, and him ſo braue beſtovves, / That in his Fight he deals more deaths than blovves.
They knovv not […] vvhat to do, or othervviſe hovv to beſtovv themſelves: like our moderne Frenchmen, that had rather loſe a pound of bloud in a ſingle combate, then a drop of ſvveat in any honeſt labour.
gloss: To give (someone or oneself) in marriage.
pos: verb
tags: also
obsolete
reflexive
transitive
examples: You ſay, if I bring in your Roſalinde, / You vvill beſtovv her on Orlando heere?
I could have bestowed her upon a fine gentleman, who extremely admired her wit, and would have given her a coach and six: […]
Related words: misstowed
stow
stowable
stowage
stow away
stowaway
stower
stowing
unstow
Derived words: bestowable
bestowage
bestowal
bestowed
bestower
bestowing
bestowment
misbestow
rebestow
unbestowed
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: употребявам
roman: upotrebjavam
lang: Bulgarian
word: използвам
roman: izpolzvam
lang: Catalan
word: fer servir
lang: Catalan
word: utilitzar
lang: Czech
word: použít
lang: Czech
word: upotřebit
lang: Czech
word: využít
lang: Finnish
word: käyttää
lang: French
word: consacrer
lang: German
word: verwenden
lang: Italian
word: applicare
lang: Italian
word: usare
lang: Macedonian
word: иско́ристи
roman: iskóristi
lang: Macedonian
word: упо́треби
roman: upótrebi
lang: Māori
word: whakamahi
lang: Portuguese
word: usar
lang: Russian
word: испо́льзовать
roman: ispólʹzovatʹ
lang: Russian
word: употребля́ть
roman: upotrebljátʹ
lang: Russian
word: употреби́ть
roman: upotrebítʹ
lang: Ukrainian
word: ви́користати
roman: výkorystaty
lang: Ukrainian
word: використо́вувати
roman: vykorystóvuvaty
lang: Ukrainian
word: вжи́ти
roman: vžýty
lang: Ukrainian
word: вжива́ти
roman: vžyváty