Grant, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Granted; p. pr. & vb. n. Granting.]
Etymology: [OE. graunten, granten, OF. graanter, craanter, creanter, to promise, yield, LL. creantare to promise, assure, for (assumed LL.) credentare to make believe, fr. L. credens, p. pr. of credere to believe. See Creed, Credit.]
1. To give over; to make conveyance of; to give the possession or title of; to convey; -- usually in answer to petition. Grant me the place of this threshing floor. 1 Chrcn. xxi. 22.
2. To bestow or confer, with or without compensation, particularly in answer to prayer or request; to give. Wherefore did God grant me my request. Milton.
3. To admit as true what is not yet satisfactorily proved; to yield belief to; to allow; to yield; to concede. Grant that the Fates have firmed by their decree. Dryden.
Syn.-- To give; confer; bestow; convey; transfer; admit; allow; concede. See Give.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Grant, v. i.
To assent; to consent. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Grant, n.
1. The act of granting; a bestowing or conferring; concession; allowance; permission.
2. The yielding or admission of something in dispute.
3. The thing or property granted; a gift; a boon.
4. (Law)
A transfer of property by deed or writing; especially, au appropriation or conveyance made by the government; as, a grant of land or of money; also, the deed or writing by which the transfer is made.
Note: Formerly, in English law, the term was specifically applied to transfrrs of incorporeal hereditaments, expectant estates, and letters patent from government and such is its present application in some of the United States. But now, in England the usual mode of transferring realty is by grant; and so, in some of the United States, the term grant is applied to conveyances of every kind of real property. Bouvier. Burrill.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for grant; he lists it under allot, allow, apportion, confess, gift, give, subsidy.
Where he writes about it:
We allow a child's innocent intrusion; we concede a right; grant a request; consent to a sale of property; permit an inspection of accounts; sanction a marriage; tolerate the rudeness of a well-meaning servant; submit to a surgical operation; yield to a demand or necessity against our wish or will, or yield something under compulsion; as, the sheriff yielded the keys at the muzzle of a revolver, and allowed the mob to enter. — from allow
We accept another's statement; admit any point made against us; acknowledge what we have said or done, good or bad; avow our individual beliefs or feelings; certify to facts within our knowledge; confess our own faults; endorse a friend's note or statement; grant a request; own our faults or obligations; recognize lawful authority; concede a claim. — from confess
A grant is commonly considerable in amount and given by public authority; as, a grant of public lands for a college. — from gift
To grant is to put into one's possession in some formal way, or by authoritative act; as, Congress grants lands to a railroad corporation. — from give
To speak of granting a favor carries a claim or concession of superiority on the part of the one by whom the grant may be made; to confer has a similar sense; as, to confer a degree or an honor; we grant a request or petition, but do not confer it. — from give
The somewhat rare term subvention is especially applied to a grant of governmental aid to a literary or artistic enterprise. — from subsidy