Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EN-DOW'MENT, n.

1. The act of settling dower on a woman, or of settling a fund or permanent provision for the support of a parson or vicar, or of a professor, &c.
2. That which is bestowed or settled on; property, fund or revenue permanently appropriated to any object; as, the endowments of a church, of a hospital, or of a college.
3. That which is given or bestowed on the person or mind by the Creator; gift of nature; any quality or faculty bestowed by the Creator. Natural activity of limbs is an endowment of the body; natural vigor of intellect is an endowment of the mind. Chatham and Burke, in Great Britain, and Jay, Ellsworth and Hamilton, in America, possessed uncommon endowments of mind.