furnish

[fur-nish]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR furnish ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to supply (a house, room, etc.) with necessary furniture, carpets, appliances, etc.

to provide or supply (often followed by with): The delay furnished me with the time I needed.

noun

paper pulp and any ingredients added to it prior to its introduction into a papermaking machine.

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 for furnish

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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. 2019

Related Words for furnish

provide, equip, rig, afford, dispense, appoint, gear, fit, endow, purvey, outfit, accoutre, apparel, array, clothe, provision, arm, store, stock, feed

Examples from the Web for furnish

Contemporary Examples of furnish

One seemed particularly promising, by a trail with a big pile of natural brush to furnish a screen.
Knowing Where the Bodies Are Buried: An Excerpt From 'Lives in Ruins'
Marilyn Johnson
November 14, 2014
Having created a picture of Hell, the Tea Party priesthood must furnish the faithful with an image of Paradise.
The Tea Party Isn’t a Political Movement, It’s a Religious One
Jack Schwartz
July 13, 2014
Husks of homes, some of them choked in jungular vines, furnish a tropical Pompeii for viewers on the disaster bus tours.
Eight Years After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Has Been Resurrected
Jason Berry
August 29, 2013
A manufacturer's trade association tried to furnish its offices with things made in the United States.
Made in America: Hard to Find, and Getting Harder
Megan McArdle
January 16, 2013
Countless events combined to furnish me with a different, truer picture of the Jewish state.
'Why I'm a Zionist'
Justin Green
January 14, 2013

Historical Examples of furnish

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.
Heroes of the Telegraph
J. Munro

British Dictionary definitions for furnish

furnish

verb (tr)

to provide (a house, room, etc) with furniture, carpets, etc

to equip with what is necessary; fit out

to give; supplythe records furnished the information required

Derived Formsfurnisher, noun

Word Origin for furnish

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

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.