Per-mit′1, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. PERMITTED; p. pr. & vb. n. PERMITTING.] [Lat. permittere, to let through, to allow, permit, from the prefix per, through, and mittere, to let go, send; Fr. permettre, It. permettere, Sp. permitir.]
Sense 1. To give over; to resign; to give in charge; to refer; to leave.
For provided our duty be secured, for the degrees and for the instruments every man is permitted to himself. Bp. Taylor.
Let us not aggravate our sorrows, But to the gods permit the event of things. Addison.
Sense 2. To grant express license or liberty to do; to give leave of; to allow; and less strictly, to put up with; to tolerate; to suffer; not to prohibit or prevent.
What God neither commands nor forbids, he permits with approbation to be done or left undone. Hooker.
Sense 3. To grant leave to; to confer license upon; to leave free to act. “Rather as a permitted suppliant than an exiled monarch.” W. Scott.
Synonyms—To allow; let; grant; admit; suffer; tolerate; endure; consent to.—TO PERMIT, ALLOW, SUFFER. To permit is more positive, denoting a decided assent, either directly or by implication. To allow is more negative, and imports only acquiescence or an abstinence from prevention. To suffer is used in cases where our feelings are adverse, but we do not think best to resist. The instructor of a school may suffer some things to pass unnoticed which he does not allow, and may allow certain practices, at least for a time, which he would by no means directly permit. When we say, in social intercourse, “allow me to do this,” the expression is not so strong as “permit me to do this,” which implies a more positive acquiescence. “Suffer me to do this” is stronger, and supposes that there may be something unpleasant in the thing proposed.