/əˈlaʊ/
OriginFrom 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.
- ditransitiveTo let one have as a suitable share of something.
“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 sayin”
- catenative, transitiveTo permit, to give permission to.
“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 desirabl”
- To not bar or obstruct.
“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 s”
- transitiveTo acknowledge, accept the truth of; to concede; to accede to an opinion.
“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.”
“Mr. Knightley, I shall not allow you to be a fair judge in this case.”
- transitiveTo grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.
“to allow a sum for leakage”
- transitiveTo make an allowance, to take into account when making plans.
“When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.”
- transitiveTo render physically possible.
“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 tra”
- obsolete, transitiveTo praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
“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.”
- obsoleteTo sanction; to invest; to entrust.
“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.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo like; to be suited or pleased with.
“How allow you the model of these clothes?”
- transitiveTo decide (a request) in favour of the party who raised it; to grant victory to a party regarding (a request).
“to allow an objection” — to find in favour of the objection and forbid the conduct objected to
“to allow an appeal” — to decide the appeal in favour of the appellant (contrast grant leave to appeal, to permit an appeal to be heard)
- Multicultural-London-English, transitiveTo forgo bothering with, to let slide.
“Easy on violence, now I doubt it
I could’ve banged this face but allowed it”
Formsallows(present, singular, third-person) · allowing(participle, present) · allowed(participle, past) · allowed(past) · allow(infinitive) · allow(first-person, present, singular) · allowed(first-person, past, singular) · allow(present, second-person, singular) · allowest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · allowed(past, second-person, singular) · allowedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · alloweth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · allowed(past, singular, third-person) · allow(plural, present) · allowed(past, plural) · allow(present, subjunctive) · allowed(past, subjunctive) · allow(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past)