Furnish Meaning
/ˈfɝnɪʃ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounMaterial used to create an engineered product.
verbTo provide a place with furniture, or other equipment.
Sentence Examples
We should furnish enough food for sufferers.
It will cost me a lot to furnish my new apartment.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hotel will ____ each room with a bed and a desk.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The landlord agreed to ____ the new apartment with a bed, a sofa, and a small dining table for the tenants.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English furnysshen, from Old French furniss-, stem of certain parts of furnir, fornir (Modern French fournir), from Germanic, from Frankish *frumjan (“to complete, execute”), from Proto-Germanic *frumjaną (“to further, promote”), from Proto-Indo-European *promo- (“front, forward”). Cognate with Old High German frumjan (“to perform, provide”), Old High German fruma (“utility, gain”), Old English fremu (“profit, advantage”), Old English fremian (“to promote, perform”). More at frame, frim.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The resin-coated furnish is evenly spread inside the form and another metal plate is placed on top."
— 2003, Martin E. Rogers, Timothy E. Long, “Synthetic Methods in Step-growth Polymers”, in IEEE, Wiley, page 257:
"The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58:
"Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls."
— 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 17:
"[…] Miniſters are ſo wiſe to leave their Proceedings to be accounted for by Reaſoners at a Diſtance, who often mould them into Syſtems, that do not only go down very well in the Coffee-Houſe, but are Supplies for Pamphlets in the preſent Age, and may probably furniſh Materials for Memoirs and Hiſtories in the next."
— 1714 (date written), [Jonathan Swift], Some Free Thoughts upon the Present State of Affairs. […], Dublin; London: […] T. Cooper, […], published 1741, →OCLC, page 3:
"[H]e took his seat at the bottom of the table, by her ladyship's desire, and looked as if he felt that life could furnish nothing greater."
— 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 67:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hotel will ____ each room with a bed and a desk.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The landlord agreed to ____ the new apartment with a bed, a sofa, and a small dining table for the tenants.