allow

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allow
A. †commend; admit, permit;

B. assign, allot. XIV. — OF. alouer, later all- :- (i) L. allaudāre, f. AL-1 + laudāre praise, LAUD, (ii) medL. allocāre place, ALLOCATE. The phonetic identification in OF. of the orig. distinct forms involved semantic conflation in which the two main senses were blended, e.g. assign with approval, grant, concede, permit.
So allowable, allowance XIV.

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