Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EN-DOW', v.t. [Norm. endouer; Fr. douer. Qu. from L. dos, doto, or a different Celtic root, for in Ir. diobhadh is dower. The sense is to set or put on.]

1. To furnish with a portion of goods or estate, called dower; to settle a dower on, as on a married woman or widow. A wife is by law entitled to be endowed of all lands and tenements, of which her husband was seized in fee simple or fee tail during the coverture. Blackstone.
2. To settle on, as a permanent provision; to furnish with a permanent fund of property; as, to endow a church; to endow a college with a fund to support a professor.
3. To enrich or furnish with any gift, quality or faculty; to indue; man is endowed by his Maker with reason.