Allow \Al*low"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Allowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Allowing.]

[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.]

1. To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction. [Obs. or Archaic]

Ye allow the deeds of your fathers. --Luke xi. 48.

We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning. --Fuller.

2. To like; to be suited or pleased with. [Obs.]

How allow you the model of these clothes? --Massinger.

3. To sanction; to invest; to intrust. [Obs.]

Thou shalt be . . . allowed with absolute power. --Shak.

4. To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have; as, to allow a servant his liberty; to allow a free passage; to allow one day for rest.

He was allowed about three hundred pounds a year. --Macaulay.

5. To own or acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion; as, to allow a right; to allow a claim; to allow the truth of a proposition.

I allow, with Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome's conduct . . . was highly reprehensible. --Thackeray.

6. To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; esp. to abate or deduct; as, to allow a sum for leakage.

7. To grant license to; to permit; to consent to; as, to allow a son to be absent.

Syn: To allot; assign; bestow; concede; admit; permit; suffer; tolerate. See Permit.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)