disallow (v.)
late 14c., "to refuse to praise" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French desalouer "to blame," from des- "not, opposite of" (see dis-) + alouer (see allow). Meanings "to reject, refuse to receive or acknowledge," also "refuse to allow, refuse to approve or sanction" are from c. 1400. Related: Disallowed; disallowing; disallowance.
Entries linking to disallow
word-forming element of Latin origin meaning 1. "lack of, not" (as in dishonest); 2. "opposite of, do the opposite of" (as in disallow); 3. "apart, away" (as in discard), from Old French des- or directly from Latin dis- "apart, asunder, in a different direction, between," figuratively "not, un-," also "exceedingly, utterly." Assimilated as dif- before -f- and to di- before most voiced consonants.
The Latin prefix is from PIE *dis- "apart, asunder" (source also of Old English te-, Old Saxon ti-, Old High German ze-, German zer-). The PIE root is a secondary form of *dwis- and thus is related to Latin bis "twice" (originally *dvis) and to duo, on notion of "two ways, in twain" (hence "apart, asunder").
In classical Latin, dis- paralleled de- and had much the same meaning, but in Late Latin dis- came to be the favored form and this passed into Old French as des-, the form used for compound words formed in Old French, where it increasingly had a privative sense ("not"). In English, many of these words eventually were altered back to dis-, while in French many have been altered back to de-. The usual confusion prevails.
As a living prefix in English, it reverses or negatives what it is affixed to. Sometimes, as in Italian, it is reduced to s- (as in spend, splay, sport, sdain for disdain, and the surnames Spencer and Spence).
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.) "place, situate, arrange; allot, apportion, bestow, assign," from Latin allocare "allocate" (see allocate). This word in Old French was confused and ultimately merged with aloer; alloer "to praise, commend, approve," from Latin allaudare, adlaudare, compound of ad "to" (see ad-) + laudare "to praise" (see laud).
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].
From the first word came the sense preserved in allowance "money granted;" from the second came allowance "permission based on approval." Meaning "assert, say," 19c. U.S. colloquial, also was in English dialect and goes back to 1570s. Related: Allowed; allowing.
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Dictionary entries near disallow
disaffection
disaggregate
disagree
disagreeable
disagreement
disallow
disallowable
disambiguate
disambiguation
disappear
disappearance