Provide \Pro*vide"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Provided; p. pr. & vb. n. Providing.]

[L. providere, provisum; pro before + videre to see. See Vision, and cf. Prudent, Purvey.]

1. To look out for in advance; to procure beforehand; to get, collect, or make ready for future use; to prepare. ``Provide us all things necessary.'' --Shak.

2. To supply; to afford; to contribute.

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

3. To furnish; to supply; -- formerly followed by of, now by with. ``And yet provided him of but one.'' --Jer. Taylor. ``Rome . . . was well provided with corn.'' --Arbuthnot.

4. To establish as a previous condition; to stipulate; as, the contract provides that the work be well done.

5. To foresee.

Note: [A Latinism] [Obs.]

--B. Jonson.

6. To appoint to an ecclesiastical benefice before it is vacant. See Provisor. --Prescott.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Provide \Pro*vide"\, v. i.

1. To procure supplies or means in advance; to take measures beforehand in view of an expected or a possible future need, especially a danger or an evil; -- followed by against or for; as, to provide against the inclemency of the weather; to provide for the education of a child.

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. --Burke.

2. To stipulate previously; to condition; as, the agreement provides for an early completion of the work.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)