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furnish

[fur-nish]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to supply (a house, room, etc.) with necessary furniture, carpets, appliances, etc.
  2. to provide or supply (often followed by with): The delay furnished me with the time I needed.
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noun
  1. paper pulp and any ingredients added to it prior to its introduction into a papermaking machine.
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Origin of furnish

1400–50; late Middle English furnisshen < Old French furniss-, long stem of furnir to accomplish, furnish < Germanic; compare Old High German frumjan to provide
Related formsfur·nish·er, nounhalf-fur·nished, adjectiveo·ver·fur·nish, verb (used with object)pre·fur·nish, verb (used with object)re·fur·nish, verb (used with object)self-fur·nished, adjectivesem·i·fur·nished, adjectiveun·der·fur·nish, verb (used with object)un·fur·nished, adjectivewell-fur·nished, adjective
Can be confusedrefinish refurbish refurnish

Synonyms

See more synonyms for furnish on Thesaurus.com
1, 2. rig, outfit, deck out. Furnish, appoint, equip all refer to providing something necessary. Furnish emphasizes the idea of providing necessary or customary services or appliances in living quarters: to furnish board; a room meagerly furnished with a bed, desk, and a wooden chair. Appoint (now found only in well-appointed ) means to furnish completely with all requisites or accessories or in an elegant style: a well-appointed house. Equip means to supply with necessary materials or apparatus for some service, action, or undertaking; it emphasizes preparation: to equip a vessel, a soldier.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for furnish

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Would it be the old case of 'I furnish the bread and you furnish the water'?

    Her Father's Daughter

    Gene Stratton-Porter

  • They must serve for potatoes and they have to furnish our meat.

    Her Father's Daughter

    Gene Stratton-Porter

  • I was sent among as precious a set of rascals as New York could furnish.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • They furnish forth no real portrait of the dear lady: how could I hope they should?

    In the Valley

    Harold Frederic

  • Cornell, it is stated, injured his machine to furnish an excuse for the stoppage of the work.

British Dictionary definitions for furnish

furnish

verb (tr)
  1. to provide (a house, room, etc) with furniture, carpets, etc
  2. to equip with what is necessary; fit out
  3. to give; supplythe records furnished the information required
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Derived Formsfurnisher, noun

Word Origin

C15: from Old French fournir, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German frummen to carry out
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for furnish

v.

mid-15c., from Middle French furniss-, present participle stem of furnir "furnish, accomplish," from Old French fornir (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *fornire, alteration of *fromire, from West Germanic *frumjan "forward movement, advancement" (cf. Old High German frumjan "to do, execute, provide"), from Proto-Germanic *fram- "forwards" (see from). Meaning "to provide" (something) is from 1520s. Related: Furnished; furnishing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper