Also 6–8 indow(e)ment. [f. ENDOW v. + -MENT.]
1. The action of endowing, in various senses.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 78. Now we have found undoubtydly, what maner of Revenuz, is beste for the Endowment of the Crowne.
1494. Fabyan, IV. lxix. 47. Of this firste Indowement of the Churche.
1641. Termes de la Ley, 135. Indowment … signifies properly the giving or assuring of dower to a woman.
1642. Perkins, Prof. Bk., v. § 315. 139. Possession of the freehold by the endowment is vested in [etc.].
1852. Lever, Daltons, II. 259. You are anxious about the endowment of the Ursulines, and so am I.
2. concr. The property or fund with which a society, institution, etc., is endowed.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxix. (1611), 429. The goods of the Church are the sacred indowments of God.
1649. Bp. Reynolds, Hosea, i. 39. O therefore that every Parish had an endowment fit for a learned, laborious, and worthy Pastor.
1757. Burke, Abridgm. Eng. Hist., Wks. 1826, X. 411. Alms, and endowments, the usual fruits of a late penitence.
1845. Sarah Austin, trans. Ranke’s Hist. Ref., II. 501. The estates of benefices … were applied to increasing the endowments of parish churches and schools.
1870. Daily News, 16 Feb., 3/5. The sacrifice of the endowments of the Irish Church was regarded by it promoters as a sure means of tranquillising Ireland.
† 3. a. Commercial advantage, profit. b. Property, possessions. Obs. rare.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 12. The Lenticke tree, which is wel-nigh onely proper to Sio, doth giue it the greatest renowne and endowment.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxiii. Basil Olifant, who had agreed to take the field if he were ensured possession of these women’s worldly endowments.
4. A ‘gift,’ power, capacity, or other advantage with which a person is endowed by nature or fortune.
c. 1610. Sir J. Melvil, Mem. (1735), 12. The King’s rare natural Endowments.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., I. iv. 6. Though the Catalogue of his endowments had bin tabled by his side.
1672. Dryden, Assignation, I. i. Dram. Wks. 1725, III. 296. A man of my extraordinary Indowments.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, ii. 69. No Endowments of the Mind … were at all necessary.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Shaks., Wks. (Bohn), I. 362. With this wisdom of life is the equal endowment of imagination and of lyric power.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., xv. (1873), 428. All corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress towards perfection.
