PROVI'DE, v.t. [L. provideo,literally to see before; pro and video, to see.] 1. To procure beforehand; to get, collect or make ready for future use; to prepare. Abraham said, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering. Gen.22. Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses. Matt.10. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Rom.12.2. To furnish; to supply; followed by with. Rome, by the care of the magistrates, was well provided with corn.Provided of is now obsolete. 3. To stipulate previously. The agreement provides that the party shall incur no loss.4. To make a previous conditional stipulation. [See Provided.]5. To foresee; a Latinism. [Not in use.]6. Provide, in a transitive sense, is followed by against or for. We provide warm clothing against the inclemencies of the weather; we provide necessaries against a time of need; or we provide warm clothing for winter, &c.PROVI'DE, v.i. To procure supplies or means of defense; or to take measures for counteracting or escaping an evil. The sagacity of brutes in providing against the inclemencies of the weather is wonderful. Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants.
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