endow

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.
   • 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...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. […]...
   • 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.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...
2. (transitive, or rarely by of) To enrich or furnish with some faculty or quality.
   • 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.[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...
   • 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: […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 25, page 225

   Synonyms:

   begift, endue, clothe

3. (transitive, usually in the passive voice) To naturally furnish (with something).
   • She was endowed with a beautiful voice.
   • And thus shal the aged Courtier, although he exercise not the qualities that he is indowed withal, comebye his ende at length, to instructe well hys Prince.1561, Baldassare Castiglione, “The Fourth Booke of the Courtyer of Count Baldessar Castilio unto Maister Alphonsus Aristo”, in Thomas Hoby, transl., edited by W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, The Book of...

   Synonyms:

   bless, gift

4. (archaic, obsolete, transitive) 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”).
   • 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.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 22:16–17, column 1
   • 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...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, page 38