endow

English
WOTD – 29 November 2019

Etymology

From Late Middle English endowen, endouen, enduen, indouen, indw (“to provide with assets, a livelihood, or privileges; to bestow, grant; (figuratively) to favour; to endow”),[1] from Anglo-Norman endouer, from Old French en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + douer (“to endow”) (from Latin dōtāre (present active infinitive of dōtō (“to endow”)); modern French douer).[2] Dōtō is derived from dōs (“dowry; endowment, gift”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪnˈdaʊ/, /ɛn-/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ɪnˈdaʊ/
  • Audio (RP)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊ
  • Hyphenation: en‧dow

Verb

endow (third-person singular simple present endows, present participle endowing, simple past and past participle endowed)

  1. (transitive) To give property to (someone) as a gift; specifically, to provide (a person or institution) with support in the form of a permanent fund of money or other benefits.
    • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Iohn, Duke of Normandie, Guyen, and Aquitaine, &c. […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 63, page 506, column 2:
      His [John, King of England's] Acts and Orders for the VVeale-publike vvere beyond moſt: hee being either the firſt, or the chiefeſt, vvho appointed thoſe noble Formes of Ciuill gouernement in London, and moſt Cities, and Incorporate Tovvnes of England, endovving them alſo vvith their greateſt Franchiſes; […]
    • 1713, Gilbert Lord Bishop of Sarum [i.e., Gilbert Burnet], “The Additional Chapter. Chap. X. Of Presentations to Benefices, and Simony”, in The New Preface and Additional Chapter to the Third Edition of the Pastoral Care. […], London: Printed for D. Midwinter […], and B. Cowse […]; [a]nd sold by A. Baldwin […], →OCLC, pages 27–28:
      Men began to build Churches on their own Grounds, at their own Charges, and to endow theſe; and they were naturally the Maſters, and in the true Signification of the Roman word, the Patrons of them.
    • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, chapter 20, page 46:
      Finding her quite incorrigible in this respect, Emma suffered her to depart; but not before she had confided to her that important and never-sufficiently-to-be-taken-care-of answer, and endowed her moreover with a pretty little bracelet as a keepsake.
    • 1999, Rupert Graf Strachwitz, “Foundations in Germany and Their Revival in East Germany after 1989”, in Helmut K. Anheier, Stefan Toepler, editors, Private Funds, Public Purpose: Philanthropic Foundations in International Perspective (Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies), New York, N.Y.: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, →ISBN, page 232:
      The blessing of private initiative for public affairs is destined to be appreciated more deeply. Empty government coffers and a regular exchange of views with experts from all over the world add impetus, even if concepts developed indigenously sometimes still lack a realistic approach to the vital issue of endowing and funding new foundations.
  2. (transitive) Followed by with, or rarely by of: to enrich or furnish with some faculty or quality.
    Synonym: begift
    • [c. 1471, John Fortescue, “Here is Shewid, What off the Kynges Livelod Geven awey, mey Beste be Taken a Geyn”, in Charles Plummer, editor, The Governance of England: Otherwise Called The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy […] (in Middle English), London: Oxford University Press; Humphrey Milford, published 1885 (1926 printing), →OCLC, page 135:
      Wherby we bith lerned þat it shalnot only be goode to owre prince, but also to vs selff, that he be well indowed; ffor ellis the patriarke wolde not haue made such a trety.
      Whereby we have learned that it shall not only be good to our prince, but also to ourselves, that he be well endowed; for else the patriarch would not have made such a treaty.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 25, page 225:
      Vpon her eyelids many Graces ſate, / Vnder the ſhadow of her euen browes, / VVorking belgardes [beautiful looks], and amorous retrate [portrait], / And euerie one her with a grace endowes: […]
    • 1599, The First Booke of the Preservation of King Henry the Vij. when He was but Earle of Richmond, Grandfather to the Queenes Maiesty: […], imprinted at London: By R. B. […], →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, The First Booke of the Preservation of King Henry the Vij. […] (Illustrations of Old English Literature; no. 11), [London?]: [s.n.], 1866, →OCLC, page 31:
      Father Omnipotent, our Lord and only Redeemer, / […] with thy grace my ſpirit endow: […]
    • 1637, John Sym, “The Self-murderers Motives to Kill Themselves”, in Lifes Preservative against Self-killing. Or, A Vsefvl Treatise Concerning Life and Self-murder; […], London: Printed by M[iles] Flesher, for R[obert] Dawlman, and L[uke] Fawne, […], →OCLC, §4 (Of Misunderstood Scripture Perverting the Iudgement; and the Remedy thereof), page 199:
      Firſt, it is needfull that we be indowed with humility of ſpirit, that denying our owne ſelves and carnall reaſon, wee may ſubmit to take ſuch ſence and meaning of the Scripture, as it of it ſelfe affords, with the aſſiſtance of the helps of the Church; and not to impoſe upon it any ſenſe of our owne making; […]
    • 1811, Benjamin Stillingfleet, chapter VIII, in W[illiam] Coxe, editor, Literary Life and Select Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet, […], volume I (Literary Life), London: Printed by J[ames] Nichols and Son, […]; for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], →OCLC, page 119:
      [A]midst so many vicissitudes of fortune to which I have been exposed, amongst all the goods and evils, the joyful and gloomy, the pleasing and disagreeable circumstances of life, thou [God] endowest me with an equal, constant, manly, and superior spirit on every occasion.
    • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC, page 173:
      I am weak; but surely the spirits who assist my vengeance will endow me with sufficient strength.
    • 1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “A Walk on the Campagna”, in The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume II, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 237:
      [T]he sculptor lifted it [a round block of stone], turned it hither and thither in his hands, brushed off the clinging soil, and finally placed it on the slender neck of the newly discovered statue. The effect was magical. It immediately lighted up and vivified the whole figure, endowing it with personality, soul, and intelligence.
    • 1890 October 13, James Gibbons, “Introduction”, in James Jeffrey Roche, edited by Mrs. John Boyle O’Reilly [i.e., Mary Agnes Murphy], Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, […] Together with His Complete Poems and Speeches, New York, N.Y.: Cassell Publishing Company, […], published 1891, →OCLC, page vi:
      Thus was he [John Boyle O'Reilly] fitted to fulfill worthily the vocation of a poet. For it is not aimlessly that Divine Providence endows a human being with qualities so exceptional and exalted.
    • 1993, H. Zghal, D. R. Strong, “A Perspective on the Use of Sensors in Robot Materials Handling”, in M. B. Zaremba, editor, Information Control Problems in Manufacturing Technology 1992: Selected Papers from the 7th IFAC/IFIP/IFORS/IMACS/ISPE Symposium, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 25–28 May 1992 (IFAC Symposia Series), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Published for the International Federation of Automatic Control by Pergamon Press, →ISBN, page 129, column 2:
      [P]roper use of sensory feedback is required to grant the industrial robot the required sensing capabilities and to endow it with the intelligence needed for detecting and adjusting to environmental disturbances.
    • 2005, Maurice H. P. M. van Putten, “Superluminal Motion in the Quasar 3C273”, in Gravitational Radiation, Luminous Black Holes, and Gamma-ray Burst Supernovae, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 1:
      General relativity endows spacetime with a causal structure described by observer-invariant light cones. […] Points inside a light cone are causally connected with its vertex, while points outside the same light cone are out-of-causal contact with its vertex.
    • 2015, Michael C[harles] Corballis, “Wandering into Other Minds”, in The Wandering Mind: What the Brain Does when You’re Not Looking, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 77:
      Just as we may endow people with physical properties, so we sometimes endow physical objects with human-like personalities or subjective states. Perhaps because of their capacity for interior accommodation, cars, ships, airplanes and even houses are often given female characteristics or referred to as 'she'.
    • 2016 April 7, Peter Bradshaw, “Dheepan review – a crime drama packed with epiphanic grandeur”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 December 2018:
      It's bulging with giant confidence and packed with outbursts of that mysterious epiphanic grandeur, like moments of sunlight breaking through cloud-cover, with which [Jacques] Audiard endows apparently normal sequences and everyday details.
    • 2023 March 22, Philip Haigh, “Five configuration stages to boost Manchester rail capacity”, in RAIL, number 979, page 31:
      Historic England explained the listing: "The station's unique design employs a high level of sophistication and innovation through its use of conoid shells supported on a cruck-like frame, which not only create a dramatic aesthetic form, but endow the building with a light and spacious interior."
  3. (transitive) Usually in the passive: to naturally furnish (with something).
    Synonyms: bless, gift
    She was endowed with a beautiful voice.
  4. (transitive, archaic or obsolete) To provide with a dower (“the portion that a widow receives from her deceased husband's property”) or a dowry (“property given to a bride”).
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 22:16–17, column 1:
      And if a man entice a maide that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he ſhall ſurely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuſe to giue her vnto him, he ſhall pay money according to the dowrie of virgins.
    • 1628, Edw[ard] Coke, “Dower”, in The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for the Societe of Stationers, →OCLC, book I, chapter 47, [https:// page 38]:
      Also if a man ſeiſed in Fee Simple beeing within age endoweth his wife at the Monaſterie or Church doore, and dieth, and his wife enter, in this caſe the heire of the huſband may out her. But otherwiſe it is, (as it ſeemeth) where the father is ſeiſed in fee, and the ſonne within age endoweth his wife ex aſſenſu patris, the Father being then of full age.
    • 1766, William Blackstone, “Of Freeholds, Not of Inheritance”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book II (Of the Rights of Things), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 130:
      [T]he reaſon, which our law gives for adopting it [i.e., dower], is a very plain and a ſenſible one; for the ſuſtenance of the wife, and the nurture and education of the younger children. […] 1. Who may be endowed. She muſt be the actual wife of the party at the time of the deceaſe. If ſhe be divorced a vinculo matrimonii, ſhe ſhall not be endowed; […]
    • 1823, Peter Lovelass, Niel Gow, “Of the Descent of Real Estates, or Estates of Inheritance. […]”, in The Law’s Disposal of a Person’s Estate who Dies without Will or Testament. […], 11th edition, London: Printed for R. Pheney, Charles Hunter, J. and W. T. Clarke, and H[enry] Butterworth, →OCLC, section II (How the Law Disposes of a Wife’s Real Estate; […]), page 125:
      A widow may be endowed of all her husband's lands, tenements, and hereditaments, corporeal or incorporeal, under the restrictions before-mentioned, unless there be some special reason to the contrary. Thus, a woman shall not be endowed of a castle built for defence of the realm, because it ought not to be divided. But of a castle that is only for the private use and habitation of the owner, a woman shall be endowed.

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Translations

References
  1. “endǒuen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. Compare “endow, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1891; “endow, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams
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