provant

English

Adjective

provant (comparative more provant, superlative most provant)

(obsolete) Provided for common or general use, as in an army; hence, common in quality; inferior.
- 1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act III, scene i:
  a poor provant rapier

Noun

provant

(obsolete) provender; food
- c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665):
  When I want prouant w^th: Humfrie
  I sup, & when benighted,
  I repose in Powles w^th: waking soules,
  Yet neuer am affrighted.
  When I lack food, I go
  without it, and when benighted,
  I repose in St. Paul’s (graveyard) with ghosts,
  Yet am never scared.
- c. 1612–1615?, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, revised by Philip Massinger, “Loves Cure or, The Martial Maid”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene i:
  One pease was a soldier's provant a whole day.

Verb

provant (third-person singular simple present provants, present participle provanting, simple past and past participle provanted)

(obsolete, transitive) To supply with provender or provisions; to provide for.
- 1599, Thomas Nash, Nashes Lenten Stuffe‎^[1]:
  ...should not only supply her inhabitants with plentiful purveyance of sustenance, but provant and victual moreover this monstrous army of strangers […]

Related terms

provand

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “provant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Catalan

Verb

provant

gerund of provar