equip

/ɪˈkwɪp/

verbB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,690 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: equips

To equip is to supply somebody with what they need. Equip the team, well equipped, equip them for the job.

The past participle does most of the work: a well equipped kitchen or a poorly equipped hospital says everything in two words. The French original was said of fitting out a ship, from an Old Norse word for a ship's crew.

Definitions of equip

1verbequipTo supply somebody with what they need.B2+
“The school plans to equip every classroom with a new computer.”

equip is a supplying.

Where it comes from

Old French esquiper meant to fit out a ship, probably from Old Norse skipa, to arrange a crew.

Proto-Germanic
*skipōną — to ship, sail, embark
Old Norse
skipa — to man (a ship)
Old French
esquiper — to embark
French
équiper — to supply, fit out
English, today
equip

From French équiper (“to supply, fit out”), originally said of a ship, Old French esquiper (“to embark”); of gem origin, most probably from Old Norse skipa (“to man (a ship)”), from Proto-Germanic skipōną (“to ship, sail, embark”). Compare with Middle High German schipfen, German schiffern, Icelandic skipa, Old English scipian. a doublet of ship.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

equip in the wild

Castles are typically built near towns to gain and equip supplies.
Castle town
Around the same time, the US Air Force was designing the AIM-82 to equip their F-15 Eagle, and later dropped their efforts to join the Agile program.
AIM-95 Agile
Almain rivets were frequently purchased en masse as munitions-grade armour to equip royal armies or personal retinues.
Almain rivet
A train-and-equip program is a military operation in which one country provides training and equipment to an ally.
Train-and-equip program
The United States Department of Defense has run several train-and-equip programs in recent military history.
Train-and-equip program

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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