n. same as abortionist. [ PJC ]

a. Expressing approbation; commending; as, an approving smile. -- Ap*prov"ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

a. Belonging to, or associated in, the same province. [ Obs. ] -- n. One who belongs to the same province. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The six islands, comprovincial
In ancient times unto Great Britain. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To divest of provincial quality or characteristics. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. expressing disapproval. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In a disapproving manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. Not to provide; to fail to provide. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not within of pertaining to the same province or jurisdiction. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Unforeseen; unexpected; not provided against; unprepared. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

All improvided for dread of death. E. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. improvidentia; OF. improvidence. Cf. Imprudence. ] The quality of being improvident; lack of foresight or thrift. [ 1913 Webster ]

The improvidence of my neighbor must not make me inhuman. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. im- not + provident: cf. L. improvidus. See Provident, and cf. Imprudent. ] Not provident; wanting foresight or forethought; not foreseeing or providing for the future; negligent; thoughtless; as, an improvident man. [ 1913 Webster ]

Improvident soldiers! had your watch been good,
This sudden mischief never could have fallen. Shak.

Syn. -- Inconsiderable; negligent; careless; shiftless; prodigal; wasteful. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Improvidently. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a improvident manner. “Improvidently rash.” Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to improve, beneficial; growing better. -- Im*prov"ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

Improving lease (Scots Law), an extended lease to induce the tenant to make improvements on the premises. [1913 Webster]

a. [ See Improvise. ] Unpremeditated; impromptu; extempore. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Improvisated p. pr. & vb. n. Improvisating ] To improvise; to extemporize. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. improvisation. ] 1. The act or art of composing and rendering music, poetry, and the like, extemporaneously; as, improvisation on the organ. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is improvised; an impromptu. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. Same as Improvisate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An improviser, or improvvisatore. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. See Improvvisatore.

{ } a. Of or pertaining to improvisation or extemporaneous composition. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. See Improvvisatrice. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Improvised p. pr. & vb. n. Improvising. ] [ F. improviser, it. improvvisare, fr. improvviso unprovided, sudden, extempore, L. improvisus; pref. im- not + provisus foreseen, provided. See Proviso. ] 1. To compose, recite, or sing extemporaneously, especially in verse; to extemporize; also, to play upon an instrument, or to act, extemporaneously. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To bring about, arrange, do, or make, immediately or on short notice, without previous preparation and with no known precedent as a guide. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Charles attempted to improvise a peace. Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To invent, or provide, offhand, or on the spur of the moment; as, he improvised a hammer out of a stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To produce or render extemporaneous compositions, especially in verse or in music, without previous preparation; hence, to do anything offhand. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who improvises. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. im- not + provision. ] Improvidence. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. improvisus unforeseen; cf. It. improvviso. ] Not prepared or mediated beforehand; extemporaneous. [ Obs. ] Jonhson. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. The Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Syn. -- Maritime Provinces. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Too provident. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To provide beforehand. “The materials preprovided.” Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Provided; p. pr. & vb. n. Providing. ] [ L. providere, provisum; pro before + videre to see. See Vision, and cf. Prudent, Purvey. ] 1. To look out for in advance; to procure beforehand; to get, collect, or make ready for future use; to prepare. “Provide us all things necessary.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To supply; to afford; to contribute. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bring me berries, or such cooling fruit
As the kind, hospitable woods provide. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To furnish; to supply; -- formerly followed by of, now by with. “And yet provided him of but one.” Jer. Taylor. “Rome . . . was well provided with corn.” Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To establish as a previous condition; to stipulate; as, the contract provides that the work be well done. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To foresee. [ A Latinism ] [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To appoint to an ecclesiastical benefice before it is vacant. See Provisor. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To procure supplies or means in advance; to take measures beforehand in view of an expected or a possible future need, especially a danger or an evil; -- followed by against or for; as, to provide against the inclemency of the weather; to provide for the education of a child. [ 1913 Webster ]

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To stipulate previously; to condition; as, the agreement provides for an early completion of the work. [ 1913 Webster ]

conj. On condition; by stipulation; with the understanding; if; -- usually followed by that; as, provided that nothing in this act shall prejudice the rights of any person whatever. [ 1913 Webster ]

Provided the deductions are logical, they seem almost indifferent to their truth. G. H. Lewes. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This word is strictly a participle, and the word being is understood, the participle provided agreeing with the whole sentence absolute, and being equivalent to this condition being previously stipulated or established. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. providentia: cf. F. providence. See Provident, and cf. Prudence. ] 1. The act of providing or preparing for future use or application; a making ready; preparation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Providence for war is the best prevention of it. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Foresight; care; especially, the foresight and care which God manifests for his creatures; hence, God himself, regarded as exercising a constant wise prescience. [ 1913 Webster ]

The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Theol.) A manifestation of the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures; an event ordained by divine direction. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that hath a numerous family, and many to provide for, needs a greater providence of God. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Prudence in the management of one's concerns; economy; frugality. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is a high point of providence in a prince to cast an eye rather upon actions than persons. Quarles. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. providens, -entis, p. pr. of providere: cf. F. provident. See Provide, and cf. Prudent. ] Foreseeing wants and making provision to supply them; prudent in preparing for future exigencies; cautious; economical; -- sometimes followed by of; as, aprovident man; an animal provident of the future. [ 1913 Webster ]

And of our good and of our dignity,
How provident he is. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Forecasting; cautious; careful; prudent; frugal; economical. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. providentiel. ] Effected by, or referable to, divine direction or superintendence; as, the providential contrivance of thing; a providential escape. -- Prov"i*den"tial*ly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a provident manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being provident; carefulness; prudence; economy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who provides, furnishes, or supplies; one who procures what is wanted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Provedore. ] One who makes provision; a purveyor. [ R. ] De Foe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. provincia; prob. fr. pro before, for + the root of vincere to conquer. See Victor. ] 1. (Roman Hist.) A country or region, more or less remote from the city of Rome, brought under the Roman government; a conquered country beyond the limits of Italy. Wyclif (Acts xiii. 34). Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital. “Kingdoms and provinces.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A region of country; a tract; a district. [ 1913 Webster ]

Over many a tract
of heaven they marched, and many a province wide. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Other provinces of the intellectual world. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A region under the supervision or direction of any special person; the district or division of a country, especially an ecclesiastical division, over which one has jurisdiction; as, the province of Canterbury, or that in which the archbishop of Canterbury exercises ecclesiastical authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The proper or appropriate business or duty of a person or body; office; charge; jurisdiction; sphere. [ 1913 Webster ]

The woman'sprovince is to be careful in her economy, and chaste in her affection. Tattler. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Specif.: Any political division of the Dominion of Canada, having a governor, a local legislature, and representation in the Dominion parliament. Hence, colloquially, The Provinces, the Dominion of Canada. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. provincialis: cf. F. provincial. See Province, and cf. Provencal. ] 1. Of or pertaining to province; constituting a province; as, a provincial government; a provincial dialect. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Exhibiting the ways or manners of a province; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province; not cosmopolitan; countrified; not polished; rude; hence, narrow; illiberal. “Provincial airs and graces.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop; not ecumenical; as, a provincial synod. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Of or pertaining to Provence; Provencal. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With two Provincial roses on my razed shoes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A person belonging to a province; one who is provincial. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (R. C. Ch.) A monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a province of the order. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. provincialisme. ] A word, or a manner of speaking, peculiar to a province or a district remote from the mother country or from the metropolis; a provincial characteristic; hence, narrowness; illiberality. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who lives in a province; a provincial. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being provincial; peculiarity of language characteristic of a province. T. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Provincialized p. pr. & vb. n. Provincializing ] To render provincial. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a provincial manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To convert into a province or provinces. [ Obs. ] Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ F. provingner, fr. provin a set, layer of a plant, OF. provain, from L. propago, -aginis, akin to propagare to propagate. See Propagate, Prune, v. t. ] To lay a stock or branch of a vine in the ground for propagation. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]