PROVIDE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Provide

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/prəvˈaɪd/ Listen

verb

Provide v. t. (past & past part. provided; pres. part. providing)

To look out for in advance; to procure beforehand; to get, collect, or make ready for future use; to prepare. "Provide us all things necessary."

To supply; to afford; to contribute. "Bring me berries, or such cooling fruit As the kind, hospitable woods provide."

To furnish; to supply; formerly followed by of, now by with. "And yet provided him of but one." "Rome... was well provided with corn."

To establish as a previous condition; to stipulate; as, the contract provides that the work be well done.

To foresee. Note: (A Latinism) (Obs.)

To appoint to an ecclesiastical benefice before it is vacant. See Provisor.

Provide v. i.

To procure supplies or means in advance; to take measures beforehand in view of an expected or a possible future need, especially a danger or an evil; followed by against or for; as, to provide against the inclemency of the weather; to provide for the education of a child. "Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants."

To stipulate previously; to condition; as, the agreement provides for an early completion of the work.

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Etymology of 'Provide'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Provide" Quotes from Famous Books

... precludes us from cultivating the society of our own species. Dolls will be dolls; and they have a natural sympathy with each other, notwithstanding the companionship of the race of man. Most little girls are aware of this fact, and provide suitable society for their dolls. I myself had a large circle of silent acquaintances, to whom I was introduced by Rose's kindness and consideration. When other little girls came to drink tea with her, ...

— The Doll and Her Friends - or Memoirs of the Lady Seraphina • Unknown

... seen what had happened to the English by the neglect of proper precautions, and when things were at their worst, the Nawab had to seek his alliance against the English, grant him leave to fortify Chandernagore, and, later on, even to provide him with money under the pretence that he was simply restoring the sum forcibly extorted from him the previous year.[24] Trade was at a standstill, and Renault was determined that if the enemies of his nation were destined to take the Company's property, they should have the utmost difficulty ...

— Three Frenchmen in Bengal - The Commercial Ruin of the French Settlements in 1757 • S.C. Hill

... no duties except the duties love makes," the doctor suggested. "He is no longer even the man you married. He is not a man in any sense of the word. He is merely a failure, a mistake; and if society is afraid to rid itself of him, society must provide for him." ...

— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... disaster, Senator La Follette brought in a carefully drawn bill to compel steamship companies to provide life-boats and trained crews. The "Christian Science Monitor" opposed this bill; and when my correspondent cited the fact, he brought out a quaint bit of ...

— The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition • Upton Sinclair

... Twillingate Long Point to Cape Norman and the harbors of the Labrador. Caricatures, of course, engaged him—the parson, the schoolmaster, Bloody Bill Bull, and the crusty old shopkeeper. And had a man an enemy, Terry Lute, at the price of a clap on the back and an admiring wink, would provide him with a sketch which was like an arrow in his hand. The wink of admiration must be above suspicion, however, else Terry's cleverness ...

— Harbor Tales Down North - With an Appreciation by Wilfred T. Grenfell, M.D. • Norman Duncan

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