ensure English · revision 3804

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1385|origins=xno enseurer}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ɪnˈʃɔː/, US /enˈʃʊr/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|ensuren]],^(MWU 2024) [[bor|xno|enseurer]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) formed from [[m|fro|en-|t=make]] and Old French seür “sure”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) probably influenced by Old French aseürer “to assure”;^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Hoad, the New Oxford and Merriam-Webster treat it as an alteration of aseurer.^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)^(MWU 2024) It is related to [[sure]], [[assure]] and [[insure]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Middle English it meant “to exact a pledge” (before 1376, in Piers Plowman) and “to give assurance, promise on oath” (about 1380, in Chaucer).^(Barnhart 1988) The OED's first record is about 1385, “to tell a person confidently”.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The early senses were “to convince” and “to make safe”.^(NODE 1998)^(SOED 2002) From about 1450 it also meant to engage by a promise of marriage, to betroth,^(OED 1989) an old use that Trench noticed in Cheke's translation of Matthew (“Mary was ensured to Joseph”).^(Trench 1859) Barnhart dates “to make sure or certain, guarantee” to 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum,^(Barnhart 1988) but the OED's record of the main modern sense, to make an event or result certain, begins in 1742.^(OED 1989) The commercial sense “to insure” a life or property (1693) is obsolete, and the work passed to [[insure]].^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) Johnson defined it as “to ascertain; to make certain; to secure”.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1376 – to exact a pledge.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1385 – to assure a person.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1440 – to guarantee.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1450 – to betroth.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1693 – to insure (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1742 – to make an outcome certain.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make sure or certain; to [[guarantee]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To make safe; to [[secure]].^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ensurer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[insure]]

+ * [[assure]]

+ * [[sure]]

+ * [[secure]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ensure, insure and assure are interchangeable in many uses, but assure alone is used of setting a person's mind at rest, and many writers keep insure for guaranteeing against loss.^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}