vouchsafe
to give or grant something to someone in a gracious manner
TRANSLATION
vouchsafe = gewähren, gestatten, bewilligen vouchsafe = (herablassend) jemandem etwas gewähren, eine Erlaubnis erteilen --- GOOGLE INDEX vouchsafe: approximately 500,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
As a pop star, everything was VOUCHSAFED to Keith Richards: other people's clothes; other people's women; a battery of lawyers to bail him out every time he was arrested...
(Washington Post book review)
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Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously VOUCHSAFE prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of the earth.
(former U.S. President William McKinley)
(Washington Post book review)
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Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously VOUCHSAFE prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of the earth.
(former U.S. President William McKinley)
Did you
know?
vouchsafe
verb
- give or grant (something) to (someone) in a gracious or condescending manner
(Oxford English Dictionaries)
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Vouchsafe is a construction that derives from the phrase to "vouch something safe" on someone, meaning to guarantee that someone is granted something. It is a compound word consisting of:
- vouch = to be able to say something is true based on one's knowledge or experience. Vouch is from the Old French "vocher" (to call, summon or claim), which likely evolved from the Latin "vocare" meaning to call or call upon.
- safe = not in danger or likely to be harmed. Safe is from the Latin "salvus" (uninjured, healthy) by way of the Old French "sauf."
Vouchsafe was (and still is) originally applied in the sense of granting something to someone and was frequently used to mean coming from a higher power (religion), a person of higher stature (politics, society) or to be received in a gracious or thankful manner. This is why vouchsafe is often used in a condescending or paternal tone.
A BBC reporter once told of being "vouchsafed" exactly five minutes for an interview with Ronald Reagan, only to later find out that the former president spent the following half hour looking for a picture of his dog to sign for the daughter of one the crew.
Vouchsafe is occasionally used as a synonym for "guarantee" as this sentence from a Forbes magazine article illustrates:
"Analyst Stephen Reitman said that Chrysler's better than expected second quarter results do not vouchsafe a turnaround."
Although the context is clear in this case, vouchsafe is still not used properly in this example.
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SYNONYMS
award, bestow, concede, condescend, deign, favour, give, grant
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Vouchsafe me just ten minutes and I will present the key elements of the proposal to the board."
verb
- give or grant (something) to (someone) in a gracious or condescending manner
(Oxford English Dictionaries)
---
Vouchsafe is a construction that derives from the phrase to "vouch something safe" on someone, meaning to guarantee that someone is granted something. It is a compound word consisting of:
- vouch = to be able to say something is true based on one's knowledge or experience. Vouch is from the Old French "vocher" (to call, summon or claim), which likely evolved from the Latin "vocare" meaning to call or call upon.
- safe = not in danger or likely to be harmed. Safe is from the Latin "salvus" (uninjured, healthy) by way of the Old French "sauf."
Vouchsafe was (and still is) originally applied in the sense of granting something to someone and was frequently used to mean coming from a higher power (religion), a person of higher stature (politics, society) or to be received in a gracious or thankful manner. This is why vouchsafe is often used in a condescending or paternal tone.
A BBC reporter once told of being "vouchsafed" exactly five minutes for an interview with Ronald Reagan, only to later find out that the former president spent the following half hour looking for a picture of his dog to sign for the daughter of one the crew.
Vouchsafe is occasionally used as a synonym for "guarantee" as this sentence from a Forbes magazine article illustrates:
"Analyst Stephen Reitman said that Chrysler's better than expected second quarter results do not vouchsafe a turnaround."
Although the context is clear in this case, vouchsafe is still not used properly in this example.
---
SYNONYMS
award, bestow, concede, condescend, deign, favour, give, grant
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Vouchsafe me just ten minutes and I will present the key elements of the proposal to the board."
