endue

American  

[en-doo, -dyoo] / ɛnˈdu, -ˈdyu /

Also indue

verb (used with object)

endued, enduing

1. to invest or endow with some gift, quality, or faculty.

2. to put on; assume.

   Hamlet endued the character of a madman.

3. to clothe.

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endue British  

/ ɪnˈdjuː /

verb

1. (usually foll by with) to invest or provide, as with some quality or trait

2. rare (foll by with) to clothe or dress (in)

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Other Word Forms

• unendued adjective

Etymology

Origin of endue

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English endewen “to induct, initiate,” from Anglo-French, Old French enduire, from Latin indūcere “to lead in, cover, induce”; induce

Explanation

You probably hope that your years of ballet classes will endue you with the ability to dance like Baryshnikov. In other words, you're dreaming that all of those arabesques and pirouettes will provide you with the dancing talent you wish for. Endue is a fancy literary term that shows up most often in formal writing, but you could impress someone by using it to mean "endow," "invest," or "empower." Less often, endue is used to mean "to put clothes on," or "dress," which makes sense when you know that endue comes from the Latin word induere, or "to put on."

Example Sentences

"Give them," said the son of Houadir, "to me, and I will endue them with stronger virtues, and thou shalt by them have power also over others, as well as to defend thyself."

From Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers by Valentine, L. (Laura)

This enabled him to endue his poems with their mystical trembling melody, not by abstracting his inner music in definite melodies, but by fixing it in assonance, rhymes and rhythmic waves.

From Paul Verlaine by Zweig, Stefan

The heads that guide endue with skill, The hands that work preserve from ill, That we who these foundations lay May raise the top-stone in its day.

From The Story of the Hymns and Tunes by Brown, Theron

For although it cannot change its passions forthwith, it can work from afar towards that end with enough success, and endue itself with new passions and even habits.

From Theodicy Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil by Huggard, E.M.

VII Gird on thy sword, O man, thy strength endue, In fair desire thine earth-born joy renew.

From The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges by Bridges, Robert