Verb

(en verb)

To give permission, power, or the legal right to do something.

* {{quote-book, year=1985, author=William H. Tench, title=Safety is no accident

, passage=Regulations have been made under the Civil Aviation Acts of 1949, 1980 and 1982 which empower Inspectors of Accidents to do these things.}}

To give someone more confidence and/or strength to do something, often by enabling them to increase their control over their own life or situation.

It's not enough to give women and minorities equal rights on paper; they need to be empowered to be able to make use of these rights.

John found that starting up his own business empowered him greatly in social situations.

* {{quote-book, year=1992, author=Nick Logan, title=The Face, page=11-130

, passage=Musically, what originally attracted me to dance was its shamanist aspects, using natural magic to change people's neurological states and to psychologically empower them.}}

Verb

(head)

(contain)

Verb

(en verb)

(lb) To hold inside.

*

At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria,

(lb) To include as a part.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2014-04-21, volume=411, issue=8884, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Subtle effects , passage=Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.}}

(lb) To put constraint upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.

* (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)

The king's person contains the unruly people from evil occasions.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves.

*

Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.

To have as an element.

To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.

* Bible, vii. 9.

But if they can not contain , let them marry.