Definition of "indulge"

indulge

/ɪnˈdʌld͡ʒ/

verb
third-person singular simple present indulges, present participle indulging, simple past and past participle indulged
1. (intransitive, often followed by "in") : To yield to a temptation or desire.
  Quotations
  Richardson took over, and Mitchell proceeded to the refreshment room in his turn, but when he came back some ten minutes later, it was evident that he had been indulging in something more potent than coffee, and he was in a very muddled state.
  1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53
  How can the unions - or more specifically the RMT - possibly think this is a good time to exert a bit of industrial muscle and indulge in strikes both on the national railway and the London Underground?
  2022 January 12, Christian Wolmar, “A new year... but the same old mistakes are being made”, in RAIL, number 948, pages 40–41
2. (transitive) To satisfy the wishes or whims of.
  Quotations
  Hope in another life implies that we indulge ourselves in the gratifications of this very sparingly.
  August 30, 1706, Francis Atterbury, a sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, at the funeral of Mr. Tho. Bennet
  "She constantly faked being sick, and perhaps mistakenly, I indulged her more than I should have, pretending I couldn't tell. But I AM a teacher myself, so it's kind of hard to just let this slide."
  2013, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain, volume 1, page 193
  It’s the kind of scenario Peter Sellers might have dreamt up while brushing his teeth, and some of the comic set-pieces – including Nobby’s seduction of a fabulously overweight maid (Gabourey Sidibe) at a luxurious South African hotel – allow Baron Cohen to indulge his Sellersian fantasies to a previously unprecedented degree.
  2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London)
  Internet shopping invites you to gaze out upon the entire bazaar all at once and to indulge the merest whim
  2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian‎
3. To give way to (a habit or temptation); to not oppose or restrain.
4. To grant an extension to the deadline of a payment.
5. To grant as by favour; to bestow in concession, or in compliance with a wish or request.
  Quotations
  persuading us that something must be indulged to public manners
  1678, Antiquitates Christianæ: Or, the History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: […], London: […] E. Flesher, and R. Norton, for R[ichard] Royston, […]
  Yet, yet a moment, one dim ray of light / Indulge, dread Chaos, and eternal Night!
  1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd

Definition of "indulge"

indulge

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations