bestow

verb

1. (transitive)To apply or make use of (someone or something); to employ, to use.

   “All the voide time, that is betwene the huores of woorke ſlepe and meat, that they be ſuffered to beſtowe, euerye man as he lyketh beſte hym ſelfe.”

   “[S]ince the voyce / Of moſt ſupreme Authority commands / My abſence: I determine to beſtovv / Some time in learning Languages abroad; […]”

   “Richmond, thy purling ſtreams and pleaſing ſhades, / Might claim the chorus of Aonian maids; / VVhere e’en Apollo might his hours beſtovv, / By turns employ his lyre, by turns his bovv, / VVhere all the pleaſures dvvell, vvhich poets feign / On fair Arcadia’s fields or Tempe’s plain.”

2. (obsolete, specifically, transitive)To apply or make use of (someone or something); to employ, to use.

   “O if I had had time to haue made nevv liueries: I vvoulde haue beſtovved the thouſand pound I borrovved of you, but tis no matter, this poore ſhevv doth better, this doth inferre the zeale I had to ſee him.”

   “And thou ſhalt beſtow that money for whatſoeuer thy ſoule lutſeth after, for oxen, or for ſheepe, or for wine, or for ſtrong drinke, or for whatſoeuer thy ſoule deſireth: and thou ſhalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou ſhalt reioyce, thou and thine houſhold.”

3. (transitive)To impart (something) gratuitously; to present (something) to someone or something, especially as a gift or an honour; to confer, to give, to accord; to render.

   “I bestow upon you the name of Peter.”

   “Medals were bestowed on the winning team.”

   “For yͤ vngodly Athalia & hir ſonnes haue waiſted the houſe of God: and all that was halowed for the houſe of the LORDE, haue they beſtowed on Baalim.”

   “Harke yee Lords, you ſee I haue giuen her Phiſicke, / And you muſt needs beſtovv her Funerall, […]”

   “[H]e [Moses] beſtovveth on the ſtory of Abraham fourteene chapters, beginning vvith his birth in the eleuenth, and ending vvith his death in the fiue and tvventieth; and this time endured but 175. yeares.”

4. (archaic, transitive)To place or put (someone or something) somewhere or in a certain situation; to dispose of.

   “The diuell take the one partie, / And his dam the other, / And theyle be both beſtovved. / I haue endured more for their ſakes, / Then man is able to endure.”

   “Moreover I haue […] beſtovved the chiefe grounds, Principles, Rules, and Obſeruations [of heraldry] vnder their proper heads, and manifeſted their vſe by examples of ſpeciall choice, […]”

   “Here are blank warrants of all dispositions; give me but the name and nature of your malefactor, and I'll bestow him according to his merits.”

   “VVith Bread the glitt’ring Caniſters they load, / VVhich round the Board Menætius’s Son beſtovv’d; […]”

   “The white domestic pigeon pairs secure, / Nay, does mere duty by bestowing egg / In authorized compartment, warm and safe, / Boarding about, and gilded spire above, / Hoisted on pole, to dogs' and cats' despair!”

5. (archaic, transitive)To deposit (something) for safekeeping; to lay up (something) in store; to stow.

   “The londes of a certayne man brought forth frutes plenteouſly⸝ and he thought in hym ſilfe ſayinge: whatt ſhall I do⸝ becauſe I have noo roume where to beſtowe my frutes?”

   “Novv as I am a Chriſtian anſvver me, / In vvhat ſafe place you haue beſtovv'd my monie; / Or I ſhall breake that merrie ſconce of yours / That ſtands on tricks, vvhen I am vndiſpos'd: / VVhere is the thouſand Markes thou hadſt of me?”

   “Near unto Aſſos, a citie in Troas, there is found in the quarries a certaine ſtone called Sarcophagus, […] The reaſon of the name is this, becauſe that vvithin the ſpace of fortie daies it is knovvne for certain to conſume the bodies of the dead vvhich are beſtovved therein, skin, fleſh, and bone, all ſave the teeth.”

   “But as ſome of the Oxen in driving, miſſed their fellovvs behind and honing after them, bellovved as their nature is: Hercules chanced to heare them lovv again, and anſvver from out of the cave vvherein they had been beſtovved: vvhereat he turned back, and made haſte thither.”

   “Of the Three Rings that the Elves had preserved unsullied no open word was ever spoken among the Wise, and few even of the Eldar knew where they were bestowed.”

6. (also, archaic, reflexive, transitive)To provide (someone or oneself) with accommodation; to find quarters for (someone or oneself); to lodge, to quarter.

   “The ſixteene daye of May they were al beſtovved abourd in Spaniſh ſhippes furniſhed with victual, & other neceſſaries for that iourney.”

   “[…] I heare / Macduffe liues in diſgrace. Sir, can you tell / VVhere he beſtovves himſelfe?”

   “VVell my Maſters, I'le leaue him with you; novv I ſee him beſtovv'd, I'le goe looke for my goods, and Numps.”

   “See that the women are bestow'd in safety / In the remote apartments: let a guard / Be set before them, with strict charge to quit / The post but with their lives— […]”

   “And meanwhile / Shall the Refectorarius bestow / Your horses and attendants for the night.”

7. (obsolete, reflexive, transitive)To behave or conduct (oneself); to acquit.

   “Novv therefore vvould I haue thee to my Tutor / (For long agone I haue forgot to court, / Beſides the faſhion of the time is chang'd) / Hovv, and vvhich vvay I may beſtovv my ſelfe / To be regarded in her ſun-bright eye.”

   “Hovv might vve ſee Falſtaffe beſtovv himſelf to night in his true colours, and not our ſelues be ſeene?”

   “He all aſſayls, and him ſo braue beſtovves, / That in his Fight he deals more deaths than blovves.”

   “They knovv not […] vvhat to do, or othervviſe hovv to beſtovv themſelves: like our moderne Frenchmen, that had rather loſe a pound of bloud in a ſingle combate, then a drop of ſvveat in any honeſt labour.”

8. (also, obsolete, reflexive, transitive)To give (someone or oneself) in marriage.

   “You ſay, if I bring in your Roſalinde, / You vvill beſtovv her on Orlando heere?”

   “I could have bestowed her upon a fine gentleman, who extremely admired her wit, and would have given her a coach and six: […]”

noun

1. (obsolete, rare, transitive)An act of presenting a thing to someone or something, especially as a gift or an honour; a bestowal.

   “The Muſes bacely begge, or bibbe, or both, and muſt, for vvhy? / They finde as bad Beſtoe as is their Portage beggerly: / Yea novv by melancholie vvalkes and thred-bare coates vve geſſe / At Clyents and at Poetes: none vvorke more and profit leſſe, […]”