provide

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prōvideō (“I foresee, I act with foresight”). Doublet of purvey.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈvaɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪd

Verb

provide (third-person singular simple present provides, present participle providing, simple past and past participle provided)

1. To make a living; earn money for necessities.

   It is difficult to provide for my family working on minimum wage.

2. To act to prepare for something.
3. To establish as a previous condition; to stipulate.

   The contract provides that the work be well done.

   I'll lend you the money, provided that you pay it back by Monday.

4. To give what is needed or desired, especially basic needs.

   Don't bother bringing equipment, as we will provide it.

   We aim to provide the local community with more green spaces.

5. To furnish (with), cause to be present.
   • Arbuthnot

     Rome […] was well provided with corn.

6. To make possible or attainable.

   He provides us with an alternative option.

   • Milton

     Bring me berries, or such cooling fruit / As the kind, hospitable woods provide.

7. (obsolete, Latinism) To foresee.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

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

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Prescott to this entry?)

Anagrams

• prevoid

Alternative forms

• provinde

Verb

provide

1. second-person plural imperative of provir

Verb

provide

1. third-person singular past historic of provedere

Anagrams

• deprivo, deprivò
• provedi

Verb

prōvidē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of prōvideō

Noun

providus

1. singular vocative of providus

References

• provide in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• provide in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette