Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To present as a gift or an honor; confer.
  • transitive verb To apply; use.
  • transitive verb To place or stow.
  • transitive verb To store or house.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To lay up in store; deposit for safe keeping; stow; place.
  • To lodge, or find quarters for; provide with accommodation.
  • To dispose of.
  • To give; confer; impart gratuitously: followed by on or upon before the recipient: as, to bestow praise or blame impartially.
  • To give in marriage.
  • To apply; make use of; use; employ.
  • To behave or deport.
  • Synonyms Confer, Grant, etc. See give.

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

  • transitive verb To lay up in store; to deposit for safe keeping; to stow; to place; to put.
  • transitive verb To use; to apply; to devote, as time or strength in some occupation.
  • transitive verb obsolete To expend, as money.
  • transitive verb To give or confer; to impart; -- with on or upon.
  • transitive verb To give in marriage.
  • transitive verb obsolete To demean; to conduct; to behave; -- followed by a reflexive pronoun.

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

  • verb transitive To lay up in store; deposit for safe keeping; stow; place.
  • verb transitive To lodge, or find quarters for; provide with accommodation.
  • verb transitive To dispose of.
  • verb transitive To give; confer; impart gratuitously; present something to someone as a gift or honour.
  • verb transitive To give in marriage.
  • verb transitive To apply; make use of; use; employ.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To behave or deport.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb bestow a quality on
  • verb give as a gift
  • verb present

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bistowen : bi-, be- + stowen, to place; see stow.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English bestowen, bistowen, equivalent to be- (“on, over, about”) +‎ stow.

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Examples

  • _bestow upon others_, and which we can bestow _liberally_ because by this very action we open the way for still greater supplies to flow in.

    The Hidden Power And Other Papers upon Mental Science 1881

  • Let her work for you in return for this; she don't ask alms, she only wants employment and a little kindness, and the best charity we can bestow is to see that she has both.

    An Old-Fashioned Girl 1950

  • But the idea of relinquishing those delightful amusements and flattering attentions, which wealth and equipage bestow, is painful.

    The Coquette, or, The History of Eliza Wharton: A Novel Founded on Fact 1797

  • That's a title we bestow on athletes in any sport who like to get bloody.

    Enough With the Pillow Fights Aditi Kinkhabwala 2011

  • That's a title we bestow on athletes in any sport who like to get bloody.

    Enough With the Pillow Fights Aditi Kinkhabwala 2011

  • Would not viewing an individual's sexual orientation and behaviors as unique to that individual, rather than typical of a group identity, get rid of the sense of rigidity and exclusion that labels bestow?

    Yolanda Reid Chassiakos: Post-Label Sexuality: The Time Has Come 2010

  • The child put her left hand upon her father's forehead and held the right above the heads of the others, "As the Goddess of Mercy has given me her favour, so I in her name bestow on you the love of heaven.

    A Chinese Wonder Book Norman Hinsdale Pitman 1900

  • I make not any doubt, but almes-deedes and prayers, are very mighty; and prevailing meanes, to appease heavens anger for some sinnes committed; but if such as bestow them, did either see or know, to whom they give them: they would more warily keepe them, or else cast them before Swine, in regard they are altogether so unworthy of them.

    The Decameron 2004

  • "How much willow ware have I got to 'bestow' on you?" inquired the

    The Harvester Gene Stratton-Porter 1893

  • Selborne "few or no writers on Natural History, save Mr. Gosse and poor Mr. Edward Forbes, have had the power of bringing out the human side of science, and giving to seemingly dry disquisitions ... that living and personal interest, to bestow which is generally the special function of the poet."

    More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 Charles Darwin 1845

Comments

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  • Wouldn't you like to get away?

    Bestowing the memory of good and evil

    On the ones you left behind

    The heartless swine

    (Le pastie de la Bourgeoisie, by Belle and Sebastian)

    July 28, 2008