Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Permit

Per·mit′ (pẽr·mĭt′), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Permitted; p. pr. & vb. n. Permitting.] [L. permittere, permissum, to let through, to allow, permit; per + mittere to let go, send. See Per-, and Mission.] 1. To consent to; to allow or suffer to be done; to tolerate; to put up with.

What things God doth neither command nor forbid . . . he permitteth with approbation either to be done or left undone. Hooker.

2. To grant (one) express license or liberty to do an act; to authorize; to give leave; — followed by an infinitive.

Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Acis xxvi. 1.

3. To give over; to resign; to leave; to commit.

Let us not aggravate our sorrows, But to the gods permit the event of things. Addison.

Syn. — To allow; let; grant; admit; suffer; tolerate; endure; consent to. — To Allow, Permit, Suffer, Tolerate. To allow is more positive, denoting (at least originally and etymologically) a decided assent, either directly or by implication. To permit is more negative, and imports only acquiescence or an abstinence from prevention. The distinction, however, is often disregarded by good writers. To suffer has a stronger passive or negative sense than to permit, sometimes implying against the will, sometimes mere indifference. To tolerate is to endure what is contrary to will or desire. To suffer and to tolerate are sometimes used without discrimination.

Per·mit′, v. i. To grant permission; to allow.

Per′mit (pẽr′mĭt or pẽr·mĭt′; 277), n. Warrant; license; leave; permission; specifically, a written license or permission given to a person or persons having authority; as, a permit to land goods subject to duty.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.