Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To supply with provender or provisions; to provide for.
  • adjective Provided for common or general use, as in an army; hence, common in quality; inferior.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective obsolete Provided for common or general use, as in an army; hence, common in quality; inferior.
  • noun obsolete provender; food

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Fortunately they had escaped without a wound; but the mule, with all the "provant," had fallen into the hands of the enemy This was a loss, as well as an insult, not to be borne.

    The Adventures of Captain Bonneville Irving, Washington, 1783-1859 1850

  • Heaping up, therefore, an abundant portion of the "provant" upon a piece of bark, which served for a dish, they invited him to confine himself thereto, instead of foraging in the general mess.

    The Adventures of Captain Bonneville Irving, Washington, 1783-1859 1850

  • Heaping up, therefore, an abundant portion of the "provant" upon a piece of bark, which served for a dish, they invited him to confine himself thereto, instead of foraging in the general mess.

    The adventures of Captain Bonneville 1837

  • Fortunately they had escaped without a wound; but the mule, with all the "provant," had fallen into the hands of the enemy This was a loss, as well as an insult, not to be borne.

    The adventures of Captain Bonneville 1837

  • Fortunately they had escaped without a wound; but the mule, with all the "provant," had fallen into the hands of the enemy This was a loss, as well as an insult, not to be borne.

    The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West Washington Irving 1821

  • "provant" upon a piece of bark, which served for a dish, they invited him to confine himself thereto, instead of foraging in the general mess.

    The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West Washington Irving 1821

  • Captain, who had eaten nothing since daybreak, was chiefly interested by the smoke which ascended from the castle chimneys, and the expectations which this seemed to warrant of his encountering an abundant stock of provant, as he was wont to call supplies of this nature.

    A Legend of Montrose 2008

  • After this interchange of greeting, the steed began to his provender with an eager dispatch, which showed old military habits; and the master, after looking on the animal with great complacency for about five minutes, said, — “Much good may it do your honest heart, Gustavus; — now must I go and lay in provant myself for the campaign.”

    A Legend of Montrose 2008

  • This was a stroke of good luck: already we were on half rations, and provant for men and mules threatened to run short.

    The Land of Midian 2003

  • Sancho said he did not want anything more than a little barley for Dapple, and half a cheese and half a loaf for himself; for the distance being so short there was no occasion for any better or bulkier provant.

    Don Quixote 2002

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