Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Allow in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels allow as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Allow

[OE. alouen, OF. alouer, aloer, aluer, F. allouer, fr. LL. allocare to admit as proved, to place, use; confused with OF. aloer, fr. L. allaudare to extol; ad + laudare to praise. See Local, and cf. Allocate, Laud.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordallow
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[OE. alouen, OF. alouer, aloer, aluer, F. allouer, fr. LL. allocare to admit as proved, to place, use; confused with OF. aloer, fr. L. allaudare to extol; ad + laudare to praise. See Local, and cf. Allocate, Laud.]
Selected historical definitionTo praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
Signed record IDwebster1913-allow-verb-13177bd2a28a
Source locatorCIDE.A, paragraph 5980; Gutenberg eBook 660
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 660Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "allow" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. alouen, OF. alouer, aloer, aluer, F. allouer, fr. LL. allocare to admit as proved, to place, use; confused with OF. aloer, fr. L. allaudare to extol; ad + laudare to praise. See Local, and cf. Allocate, Laud.]" The selected historical definition says: "To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

More released A records

Every card owns a different source record and historical sense.

adverb

Always

[All + way. The s is an adverbial (orig. a genitive) ending.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadjective

American

[Named from Americus Vespucius.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Area

[L. area a broad piece of level ground. Cf. Are, n.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadverb

Already

[All (OE. al) + ready.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Action

[OF. action, L. actio, fr. agere to do. See Act.]

Webster 1913 exact record

Browse released A records - browse all historical records.