Verb

(en verb)

To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have.

* 2004 , Constance Garnett (translator), Anton Chekhov (Russian author), “Ariadne”, in The Darling: and Other Stories :

he needed a great deal of money, but his uncle only allowed him two thousand roubles a year, which was not enough, and for days together he would run about Moscow with his tongue out, as the saying is.

To acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion.

* 1855 , (William Makepeace Thackeray), (The Newcomes)

I allow , with Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome's conductwas highly reprehensible.

To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.

To grant license to; to permit; to consent to.

*

With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get

To not bar or obstruct.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)

, volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}

To acknowledge or concede.

* 2000 , (George RR Martin), A Storm of Swords , Bantam (2011), page 154:

Half the night passed before the wench allowed that it might be safe to stop.

To take into account by making an allowance.

When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.

To render physically possible.

* 1824 , (Washington Irving), :

The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838

, page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme

(obsolete) To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.

* Bible, Luke xi. 48

Ye allow the deeds of your fathers.

* Fuller

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

(obsolete) To sanction; to invest; to entrust.

* Shakespeare

Thou shalt be allowed with absolute power.

(obsolete) To like; to be suited or pleased with.

* Massinger

How allow you the model of these clothes?

Verb

(head)

(lb) As a past-tense form of (will).

#(lb) Wished, desired (something).

#(lb) Wanted to ( + bare infinitive).

#*1852 , James Murdock, trans. Johann Lorenz Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History , II.7.iii:

#*:The Greeks, especially those who would be thought adepts in mystic theology, ran after fantastic allegories.

#Used to; was or were habitually accustomed to ( + bare infinitive); indicating an action in the past that happened repeatedly or commonly.

#*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would' find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man ' would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}

#*2009 , "Soundtrack of my life", The Guardian , 15 March:

#*:When we were kids we would sit by the radio with a tape recorder on a Sunday, listening out for the chart songs we wanted to have.

#Used with bare infinitive to form the "anterior future", indicating a futurity relative to a past time.

#*1867 , (Anthony Trollope), (w) , Ch.28:

#*:That her Lily should have been won and not worn, had been, and would be, a trouble to her for ever.

#*

#*:Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

#*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 5, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC Sport

, title= QPR 2-3 Man City , passage=Toure would have the decisive say though, rising high to power a header past Kenny from Aleksandar Kolarov's cross.}}

#(lb) Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses.

#*1724 , (Daniel Defoe), , Penguin p.107:

#*:He sat as one astonish'd, a good-while, looking at me, without speaking a Word, till I came quite up to him, kneel'd on one Knee to him, and almost whether he would or no, kiss'd his Hand.

#*1846 , "A New Sentimental Journey", Blackwoods Magazine , vol.LX, no.372:

#*:If I could fly, I would away to those realms of light and warmth – far, far away in the southern clime.

#Was determined to; loosely, could naturally have been expected to (given the tendencies of someone's character etc.).

#*1835 , (Charles Dickens), (Sketches by Boz) , V:

#*:Then he took to breeding silk-worms, which he would bring in two or three times a day, in little paper boxes, to show the old lady.

#*2009 , "Is the era of free news over?", The Observer ,

#*:The free access model, the media magnate said last week, was "malfunctioning". Well he would , wouldn't he?

(lb) As a modal verb, the subjunctive of will.

#Used to give a conditional or potential "softening" to the present; might, might wish.

#*2008 , Mark Cocker, "Country Diary", The Guardian , 3 November:

#*:It's a piece of old folklore for which I would love to find hard proof.

#Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality (with a bare infinitive); indicating an action or state that is conditional on another.

#*2010 , The Guardian , 26 February:

#*:Warnock admitted it would be the ideal scenario if he received a Carling Cup winners' medal as well as an England call-up.

#

#*1859 , (John Bunyan), (w, The Pilgrim's Progress) ,

#*:I presently wished, would' that I had been in their clothes! '''would''' that I had been born Peter! ' would that I had been born John!

#*1868 , Sir (Walter Scott), (Ivanhoe) , Ch.23:

#*:I would she had retained her original haughtiness of disposition, or that I had a larger share of Front-de-Bœuf's thrice-tempered hardness of heart!

#Used to impart a sense of hesitancy or uncertainty to the present; might be inclined to. Now sometimes colloquially with ironic effect.

#*2009 , Nick Snow, The Rocket's Trail , p.112:

#*:“Those trials are being run by the American army so surely you must have access to the documents?” “Well, yeah, you’d think.”

#*2010 , (Terry Pratchett), "My case for a euthanasia tribunal", The Guardian ,

#*:Departing on schedule with the help of a friendly doctor was quite usual. Does that still apply? It would seem so.

#Used interrogatively to express a polite request; are (you) willing to …?

#:

#

#*1608 , (William Shakespeare), (King Lear) , I.4:

#*:What dost thou professe? What would’st thou with vs?