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.
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.
How allow you the model of these clothes?
Massinger.
3. To sanction; to invest; to intrust.
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.