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Afford - 4 dictionary results

af⋅ford

  [uh-fawrd, uh-fohrd]
Use Afford in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to be able to do, manage, or bear without serious consequence or adverse effect: The country can't afford another drought.
2. to be able to meet the expense of; have or be able to spare the price of: Can we afford a trip to Europe this year? The city can easily afford to repair the street.
3. to be able to give or spare: He can't afford the loss of a day.
4. to furnish; supply: The transaction afforded him a good profit.
5. to be capable of yielding or providing: The records afford no explanation.
6. to give or confer upon: to afford great pleasure to someone.
Origin:
bef. 1050; ME aforthen, iforthen, OE geforthian to further, accomplish, equiv. to ge- y- + forth forth + -ian inf. suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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af·ford   (ə-fôrd', ə-fōrd')   
tr.v.   af·ford·ed, af·ford·ing, af·fords
  1. To have the financial means for; bear the cost of: not able to afford a new car.
  2. To manage to spare or give up: can't afford an hour for lunch.
  3. To manage or bear without disadvantage or risk to oneself: can afford to be tolerant.
  4. To make available; provide: a sport affording good exercise; a tree that affords ample shade.

[Middle English aforthen, from Old English geforthian, to carry out : ge-, perfective pref.; see yclept + forthian, to further (from forth, forth, forward; see per1 in Indo-European roots).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Afford

Af*ford"\ ([a^]f*f[=o]rd"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Afforded; p. pr. & vb. n. Affording.] [OE. aforthen, AS. gefor[eth]ian, for[eth]ian, to further, accomplish, afford, fr. for[eth] forth, forward. The prefix ge- has no well defined sense. See Forth.]

1. To give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue; as, grapes afford wine; olives afford oil; the earth affords fruit; the sea affords an abundant supply of fish.

2. To give, grant, or confer, with a remoter reference to its being the natural result; to provide; to furnish; as, a good life affords consolation in old age.

His tuneful Muse affords the sweetest numbers. --Addison.

The quiet lanes . . . afford calmer retreats. --Gilpin.

3. To offer, provide, or supply, as in selling, granting, expending, with profit, or without loss or too great injury; as, A affords his goods cheaper than B; a man can afford a sum yearly in charity.

4. To incur, stand, or bear without serious detriment, as an act which might under other circumstances be injurious; -- with an auxiliary, as can, could, might, etc.; to be able or rich enough.

The merchant can afford to trade for smaller profits. --Hamilton.

He could afford to suffer With those whom he saw suffer. --Wordsworth.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Afford
Spanish: permitirse, darse el gusto de,
German: sich leisten,
Japanese: 余裕がある
More Translations »

afford 
O.E. geforðian "to advance," from ge- completive prefix (see a- (1)) + forðian "to further," from forð "forward, onward." Change of -th- to -d- was 16c. (and also transformed burthen and murther into their modern forms). Prefix shift to af- took place 16c. under mistaken belief that it was a L. word in ad-. Notion of "accomplish" (late O.E.) gradually became "manage to buy or maintain; have enough money (to do something)" (1833). Older sense is preserved in afford (one) an opportunity.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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