Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Provide

Provide , transitive verb

[Latin providere, provisum; pro before + videre to see. See Vision, and compare Prudent, Purvey.]

1.
To look out for in advance; to procure beforehand; to get, collect, or make ready for future use; to prepare.
Provide us all things necessary. — Shakespeare
2.
To supply; to afford; to contribute.
Bring me berries, or such cooling fruit As the kind, hospitable woods provide. — Milton
3.
To furnish; to supply; -- formerly followed by of, now by with.
And yet provided him of but one. — Jer. Taylor
Rome... was well provided with corn. — Arbuthnot
4.
To establish as a previous condition; to stipulate; as, the contract provides that the work be well done.

[A Latinism]

5.
To foresee. [Obsolete] — B. Jonson
6.
To appoint to an ecclesiastical benefice before it is vacant. See Provisor. — Prescott

Provide , intransitive verb

1.
To procure supplies or means in advance; to take measures beforehand in view of an expected or a possible future need, especially a danger or an evil; -- followed by against or for; as, to provide against the inclemency of the weather; to provide for the education of a child.
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. — Burke
2.
To stipulate previously; to condition; as, the agreement provides for an early completion of the work.