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Apply vs Give - What's the difference?

apply | give | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between apply and give

is that apply is to betake; to address; to refer; generally used reflexively while give is to provide, as, a service or a broadcast.

In intransitive terms the difference between apply and give

is that apply is to pertain or be relevant to a specified individual or group while give is to lead (onto or into).

As an adjective apply

is an alternative spelling of lang=en.

As a noun give is

the amount of bending that something undergoes when a force is applied to it.

apply

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) applier, ((etyl) appliquer), from (etyl) . See applicant, ply.

Verb

(en-verb)
  • To lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , author= , title=Translation of Virgil's Aeneid , passage=He said, and to the sword his throat applied . , year=1697}}
  • To put to use; to use or employ for a particular purpose, or in a particular case; to appropriate; to devote; as, to apply money to the payment of a debt.
  • To make use of, declare, or pronounce, as suitable, fitting, or relative; as, to apply the testimony to the case; to apply an epithet to a person.
  • * (rfdate) Milton,
  • Yet God at last To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied .
  • To fix closely; to engage and employ diligently, or with attention; to attach; to incline.
  • * 1611 , '', ''Proverbs 23:12,
  • Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
  • To betake; to address; to refer; generally used reflexively.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • sacred vows applied to grisly Pluto
  • * (rfdate) Johnson
  • I applied myself to him for help.
  • To submit oneself as a candidate (with the adposition "to" designating the recipient of the submission, and the adposition "for" designating the position).
  • I recently applied to the tavern for a job as a bartender.
    Most of the colleges she applied to were ones she thought she had a good chance of getting into.
    Many of them don't know it, but almost a third of the inmates are eligible to apply for parole or work-release programs.
  • To pertain or be relevant to a specified individual or group.
  • That rule only applies to foreigners.
  • (obsolete) To busy; to keep at work; to ply.
  • * Sir Philip Sidney
  • She was skillful in applying his humours.
  • (obsolete) To visit.
  • * Chapman
  • His armour was so clear, / And he applied each place so fast, that like a lightning thrown / Out of the shield of Jupiter, in every eye he shone.
    (Webster 1913)

    Etymology 2

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • References

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    give

    English

    Verb

  • (may take two objects) To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.
  • # To transfer one's possession or holding of (something) to (someone).
  • # To make a present or gift of.
  • # To pledge.
  • # To provide (something) to (someone), to allow or afford.
  • # To cause (a sensation or feeling) to exist in.
  • # To carry out (a physical interaction) with (something).
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway,
  • # To pass (something) into (someone's) hand or the like.
  • # To cause (a disease or condition) in, or to transmit (a disease or condition) to.
  • #* 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations
  • Study gives' strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to '''give''' stiffness, the other suppleness: one ' gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  • (may take two objects) To estimate or predict (a duration or probability) for (something).
  • To yield slightly when a force is applied.
  • *
  • To collapse under pressure or force.
  • To provide, as, a service or a broadcast.
  • * 2003 , Iain Aitken, Value-Driven IT Management: Commercializing the IT Function , page 153
  • who did not have a culture in which 'giving good presentation' and successfully playing the internal political game was the way up.
  • * 2006 , Christopher Matthew Spencer The Ebay Entrepreneur , page 248
  • A friendly voice on the phone welcoming prospective new clients is a must. Don't underestimate the importance of giving good "phone".
  • To lead (onto or into).
  • To exhibit as a product or result; to produce; to yield.
  • The number of men, divided by the number of ships, gives four hundred to each ship.
  • To cause; to make; used with the infinitive.
  • * Shakespeare
  • But there the duke was given to understand / That in a gondola were seen together / Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica.
  • To allow or admit by way of supposition.
  • * Milton
  • I give not heaven for lost.
  • To attribute; to assign; to adjudge.
  • * Sheridan
  • I don't wonder at people's giving him to me as a lover.
  • To communicate or announce (advice, tidings, etc.); to pronounce or utter (an opinion, a judgment, a shout, etc.).
  • (dated) To grant power or permission to; to allow.
  • * Rowe
  • It is given me once again to behold my friend.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Then give thy friend to shed the sacred wine.
  • (reflexive) To devote or apply (oneself).
  • The soldiers give themselves to plunder.
    That boy is given to fits of bad temper.
  • To become soft or moist.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • To shed tears; to weep.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Whose eyes do never give / But through lust and laughter.
  • To have a misgiving.
  • * J. Webster
  • My mind gives ye're reserved / To rob poor market women.
  • To be going on, to be occurring
  • Synonyms

    * (transfer possession of) donate, pass, transfer * (bend slightly when a force is applied) bend, cede, flex, move, yield * (estimate or predict) estimate, guess, predict * (provide)

    Antonyms

    * (transfer possession of) get, obtain, receive, take * (bend slightly when a force is applied) not bend/cede/flex/give/move/yield, resist

    Derived terms

    See also'' given''', '''giver''' ''and'' ' giving * forgive * * give and take * give away * give away the store * give back * give birth * give forth * give head * give in * give it one's all * give it one's best shot * give it up for * given * give off * give one's all * give one's daughter away * give on to * give or take * give out * give over * give pause * give someone a break * give someone a chance * give someone a kiss * give someone grief * give someone the business * give someone the time of day * give something a miss * give something a shot * give something a try * give thanks * give to understand * give up * give way * it is better to give than to receive * something's got to give * what gives? * you only get what you give

    Noun

    (-)
  • (uncountable) The amount of bending that something undergoes when a force is applied to it.
  • This chair doesn't have much give .