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Webster 1913 Edition


Enable

En-a′ble

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Enabled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Enabling
.]
1.
To give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.
[Obs.]
“Who hath enabled me.”
1 Tim. i. 12.
Receive the Holy Ghost, said Christ to his apostles, when he
enabled
them with priestly power.
Jer. Taylor.
2.
To make able (to do, or to be, something); to confer sufficient power upon; to furnish with means, opportunities, and the like; to render competent for; to empower; to endow.
Temperance gives Nature her full play, and
enables
her to exert herself in all her force and vigor.
Addison.

Webster 1828 Edition


Enable

ENABLE

,
Verb.
T.
[Norm. enhabler; en and hable, able. See Able.]
1.
To make able; to supply with power,physical or moral; to furnish with sufficient power or ability. By strength a man is enabled to work. Learning and industry enable men to investigate the laws of nature. Fortitude enables us to bear pain without murmuring.
2.
To supply with means. Wealth enables men to be charitable, or to live in luxury.
3.
To furnish with legal ability or competency; to authorize. The law enables us to dispose of our property by will.
4.
To furnish with competent knowledge or skill, and in general, with adequate means.

Definition 2024


enable

enable

English

Verb

enable (third-person singular simple present enables, present participle enabling, simple past and past participle enabled)

  1. To give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.
  2. To make able (to do, or to be, something); to confer sufficient power upon; to furnish with means, opportunities, and the like; to render competent for; to empower; to endow.
    • 1711, October 13, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 195
      Temperance gives Nature her full play, and enables her to exert herself in all her force and vigor.
    • 2013 June 29, A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 72-3:
      Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
  3. To allow a way out or excuse for an action.
    His parents enabled him to go on buying drugs.

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