VOUCHSAFE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does vouchsafe mean? 

• VOUCHSAFE (verb)
  The verb VOUCHSAFE has 1 sense:

1. grant in a condescending manner

  Familiarity information: VOUCHSAFE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VOUCHSAFE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they vouchsafe    ... he / she / it vouchsafes   
Past simple: vouchsafed   
Past participle: vouchsafed   
-ing form: vouchsafing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grant in a condescending manner

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "vouchsafe" is one way to...):

allow; grant (let have)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody something

 Context examples 

“They was put aw’y wet, sir,” he vouchsafed explanation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This must be love, she thought, in the one rational moment that was vouchsafed her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It meant a fight; and this was the only way that was now vouchsafed him of expressing the life that was in him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Elinor would not vouchsafe any answer.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Once again, seriously; may I enjoy the great good that has been vouchsafed to me, without fearing that any one else is suffering the bitter pain I myself felt a while ago?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Very pretty, sir, upon my word; to send me on here, to be an encumbrance to my friends, so long before you vouchsafe to come!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

"I guess I ain't used much to the warm," he vouchsafed half apologetically.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Among the gifts which have been vouchsafed to my wife, said Du Guesclin, there is the wondrous one of seeing into the future; but it comes very seldom upon her, and goes as quickly, for none can command it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had even condescended to advise him to marry as soon as he could, provided he chose with discretion; and had once paid him a visit in his humble parsonage, where she had perfectly approved all the alterations he had been making, and had even vouchsafed to suggest some herself—some shelves in the closet up stairs.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

She asked no further questions, and I vouchsafed no remark, devoting myself to Wolf Larsen’s command, which was to make her comfortable.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)