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to give permission to or for; permit:
to allow a student to be absent; No swimming allowed.
to let have; give as one’s share; grant as one’s right:
to allow a person $100 for expenses.
to permit by neglect, oversight, or the like:
to allow a door to remain open.
to admit; acknowledge; concede:
to allow a claim.
to take into consideration, as by adding or subtracting; set apart:
to allow an hour for changing trains.
Older Use. to say; think.
Archaic. to approve; sanction.
to permit something to happen or to exist; admit (often followed by of):
to spend more than one’s budget allows; a premise that allows of only one conclusion.
allow for, to make concession or provision for:
to allow for breakage.
Contemporary Examples

But Chinese leaders are not allowing this creative destruction to occur.
China’s Looming Debt Disaster Gordon G. Chang August 22, 2011

That kind of browsing was a purely visual experience that usually cleared my mind, allowing it to regenerate.
The Bag Lady Papers, Part VIII Alexandra Penney June 27, 2009

She switched teams, allowing herself to study her female competitors through the eyes of a man.
The New Rules of Online Dating Lizzie Crocker, Abby Haglage February 13, 2013

allowing her to stay in bed like that allowed her to be human for the audience.
Julianna Margulies’s Favorite ‘The Good Wife’ Scenes Julianna Margulies August 10, 2014

What about allowing a school to manually or “mechanically” restrain students?
Bill Maher Finds the Worst Congressman in America Ana Marie Cox October 7, 2014

Historical Examples

Neither would, for a moment, think of allowing such incidents to rankle in his bosom.
The Wild Man of the West R.M. Ballantyne

allowing this to be the case, why had he not taken Joy Saunders with him?
Ester Ried Yet Speaking Isabella Alden

When he became a man, was he thankful to his father for not allowing him to have his own way at that time?
With the Children on Sunday Sylvanus Stall

And what can you say more, allowing all your suppositions and reasonings?
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding David Hume

It may be known by allowing the coffee to stand until cold, when a thick pellicle or skin will be found on the top.
Curiosities of Civilization Andrew Wynter

verb
(transitive) to permit (to do something); let
(transitive) to set aside: five hours were allowed to do the job
(transitive) to let enter or stay: they don’t allow dogs
(transitive) to acknowledge or concede (a point, claim, etc)
(transitive) to let have; grant: he was allowed few visitors
(intransitive) foll by for. to take into account: allow for delays
(intransitive) often foll by of. to permit; admit: a question that allows of only one reply
(transitive; may take a clause as object) (US, dialect) to assert; maintain
(transitive) (archaic) to approve; accept
v.

early 14c., allouen, “to commend, praise; approve of, be pleased with; appreciate the value of;” also, “take into account or give credit for,” also, in law and philosophy, “recognize, admit as valid” (a privilege, an excuse, a statement, etc.). From late 14c. as “sanction or permit; condone;” in business use from early 15c.

The Middle English word is from Anglo-French alouer, Old French aloer, alloiier (13c.) “allot, apportion, bestow, assign,” from Latin allocare (see allocate). This word in Old French was confused and ultimately merged with aloer; alloer “to praise, commend,” from Latin allaudare, adlaudare, compound of ad- “to” (see ad-) + laudare “to praise” (see laud). From the first word came the sense preserved in allowance as “money granted;” from the second came its meaning “permission based on approval.”

Between the two primary significations there naturally arose a variety of uses blending them in the general idea of assign with approval, grant, concede a thing claimed or urged, admit a thing offered, permit, etc., etc. [OED].

Related: Allowed; allowing.