allow
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: law
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd
Proto-Italic *ad
Proto-Italic *ad-
Latin ad-
Latin laus
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Latin laudō
Latin allaudō
Old French aloer
▲
Latin ad-
Proto-Indo-European *stel-der.
Proto-Italic *stlokos?
Old Latin stlocus
Latin locus
▲
Latin -ō
Latin locō
Latin allocō
Old French aloer
Anglo-Norman alouerbor.
Middle English allowen
English allow
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 unrelated.
Inflected forms:
form: allows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: allowing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: allowed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: allowed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: allow
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: allow
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: allowed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: allow
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: allowest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: allowed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: allowedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: allows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: alloweth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: allowed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: allow
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: allowed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: allow
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: allowed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: allow
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: allowing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: allowed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To let one have as a suitable share of something.
pos: verb
tags: ditransitive
examples: to allow a servant his liberty; to allow a free passage; to allow one day for rest
[…] 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.
gloss: To present something as possible or reasonable.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The event allows of only one interpretation.
gloss: To permit, to give permission to.
pos: verb
tags: catenative
transitive
examples: I will allow my son to be absent.
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[…]
gloss: To not bar or obstruct.
pos: verb
examples: Although I don't consent to their holding such meetings, I will allow them for the time being.
Smoking (is) allowed only in designated areas.
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.
gloss: To acknowledge, accept the truth of; to concede; to accede to an opinion; to say something one agrees on in the context of a larger disagreement or reluctance.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to allow a right; to allow a claim; to allow an appeal
You must allow that disagreeing about politics puts a strain on a relationship.
"Well, that rug does match the wallpaper," he allowed.
Mr. Knightley, I shall not allow you to be a fair judge in this case.
I allow, with Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome's conduct[…]was highly reprehensible.
Half the night passed before the wench allowed that it might be safe to stop.
gloss: To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to allow a sum for leakage
How much will you allow on my old jalopy?
gloss: To make an allowance, to take into account when making plans.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.
gloss: To render physically possible.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill.
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.
gloss: To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers
We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning.
gloss: To sanction; to invest; to entrust.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
gloss: To like; to be suited or pleased with.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: How allow you the model of these clothes?
gloss: To decide (a request) in favour of the party who raised it; to grant victory to a party regarding (a request).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to allow an objection
to allow an appeal
gloss: To forgo bothering with, to let slide.
pos: verb
tags: Multicultural-London-English
transitive
examples: Easy on violence, now I doubt it
I could’ve banged this face but allowed it
Antonyms: ban
forbid
prohibit
Related words: allowance
disallow
Derived words: allowability
allowable
allowance
allowee
allower
allow for
allowingly
allow it
allowment
allow nature to take her
its course
disallowance
reallow
unallowing
Translations: