furnish

American  

[fur-nish] / ˈfɜr nɪʃ /

verb (used with object)

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

   Synonyms:

   outfit, rig

2. to provide or supply (often followed bywith ).

   The delay furnished me with the time I needed.

   Synonyms:

   outfit, rig

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noun

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

furnish British  

/ ˈfɜːnɪʃ /

verb

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

2. to equip with what is necessary; fit out

3. to give; supply

   the records furnished the information required

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Related Words

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, a more formal word now usually used in the past participle 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.

Other Word Forms

• furnisher noun
• overfurnish verb (used with object)
• prefurnish verb (used with object)
• refurnish verb (used with object)
• underfurnish verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of furnish

1400–50; late Middle English furnisshen, from Old French furniss-, long stem of furnir “to accomplish, furnish,” from Germanic; compare Old High German frumjan “to provide”

Example Sentences

There have been long running concerns that second homes - meaning furnished properties that are not the owner's main residence - price out locals, as well as concerns about the impact on Welsh-language communities.

From BBC

Willem’s sparsely furnished room was on the fourth floor of a private home.

From Literature

Despite the beacon, only Hanoi’s cà phê cognoscenti seek out this snug shop furnished with four short tables and a small counter.

From The Wall Street Journal

We were champion racers, and my parents invested heavily in the cars—to the point that they didn’t fully furnish our living room.

From The Wall Street Journal

And the plastics increasingly used to build and furnish homes derive from fossil fuels.

From BBC

Related Words

• afford
• dispense
• hand over
• provide
• turn over