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Word of the Day Archive
Saturday July 17, 1999
bestow \bih-STOH\
, transitive verb:
1. To present as a gift or an honor; confer.
2. To apply; use.
He bestowed on him a pension of a hundred crowns a year.
-- John Richard Green, Short History of the English People
In 1933...a hurricane bestowed a bonanza on Ocean City by cutting Fenwick, the island on which its sits, in two, offering new, easy access to oceangoing boats
-- "Shifting Sands", Washington Post, July 11, 1999
Bestow comes down to us from the Middle English bistowen, from bi-, be- + stowen, to place, to stow.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for bestow
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