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vouchsafe

[vouch-seyf]

Origin

verb (used with object)

to grant or give, as by favor, graciousness, or condescension: to vouchsafe a reply to a question.

to allow or permit, as by favor or graciousness: They vouchsafed his return to his own country.

verb (used without object)

to condescend; deign.

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Vouchsafe is one of our favorite verbs.

So is peculate. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

chat, to converse

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Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English phrase vouche sauf. See vouch, safe

Related forms

vouch·safe·ment, noun

un·vouch·safed, adjective

Synonyms
1. bestow, confer, accord.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To vouchsafe

Collins

World English Dictionary

vouchsafe (ˌvaʊtʃˈseɪf)

—vb
1.	to give or grant or condescend to give or grant: she vouchsafed no reply; he vouchsafed me no encouragement
2.	(may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to agree, promise, or permit, often graciously or condescendingly: he vouchsafed to come yesterday
3.	obsolete
	a. to warrant as being safe
	b. to bestow as a favour (upon)

[C14: vouchen sauf; see vouch, safe]

vouch'safement

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

vouchsafe

c.1300, vouchen safe "to vouch as safe" (see vouch and safe).

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Related Words

bestow

Matching Quote

"If thou survive my well-contented day
When that churl death my bones with dust shall cover,
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover;
Compare them with the bettering of the time,
And though they be outstripped by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
Oh, then vouchsafe me but this loving thought—
\'Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought,
To march in ranks of better equipage:
But since he died, and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love.'"

-Shakespeare

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