[syn: provision, purvey]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Provision \Pro*vi"sion\, n. [L. provisio: cf. F. provision. See
   Provide.]
   1. The act of providing, or making previous preparation.
      --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]
   2. That which is provided or prepared; that which is brought
      together or arranged in advance; measures taken
      beforehand; preparation.
      [1913 Webster]
            Making provision for the relief of strangers.
                                                  --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]
   3. Especially, a stock of food; any kind of eatables
      collected or stored; -- often in the plural.
      [1913 Webster]
            And of provisions laid in large,
            For man and beast.                    --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]
   4. That which is stipulated in advance; a condition; a
      previous agreement; a proviso; as, the provisions of a
      contract; the statute has many provisions.
      [1913 Webster]
   5. (R. C. Ch.) A canonical term for regular induction into a
      benefice, comprehending nomination, collation, and
      installation.
      [1913 Webster]
   6. (Eng. Hist.) A nomination by the pope to a benefice before
      it became vacant, depriving the patron of his right of
      presentation. --Blackstone.
      [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Provision \Pro*vi"sion\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Provisioned; p.
   pr. & vb. n. Provisioning.]
   To supply with food; to victual; as, to provision a garrison.
   [1913 Webster]
         They were provisioned for a journey.     --Palfrey.
   [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
provision
    n 1: a stipulated condition; "he accepted subject to one
         provision" [syn: provision, proviso]
    2: the activity of supplying or providing something [syn:
       provision, supply, supplying]
    3: the cognitive process of thinking about what you will do in
       the event of something happening; "his planning for
       retirement was hindered by several uncertainties" [syn:
       planning, preparation, provision]
    4: a store or supply of something (especially of food or
       clothing or arms)
    v 1: supply with provisions [syn: provision, purvey]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
269 Moby Thesaurus words for "provision":
   TLC, abundance, accommodation, accordance, accumulation, amassment,
   anticipation, arrangement, award, awarding, backlog,
   basic training, bestowal, bestowment, board, boundary condition,
   bread, bread and butter, briefing, budget, bunker, care, catch,
   cater, catering, cheer, clause, clearing the decks, coal,
   collection, comestibles, commissariat, commissary, communication,
   concession, condition, conferment, conferral, contemplation,
   contribution, cornucopia, creature comfort, cuisine, cumulation,
   daily bread, deliverance, delivery, demand, dine, discretion,
   donation, donnee, dump, eatables, economic support, edibles,
   endowment, envisagement, envisionment, equipment, escalator clause,
   escape clause, escape hatch, exception, familiarization, fare,
   farseeingness, farsightedness, fast food, feast, feed, fill up,
   fine print, fitting out, fixing, fodder, food, food and drink,
   foodstuff, foodstuffs, forage, forearming, forecast, foreglance,
   foregleam, foreglimpse, forehandedness, foreseeing, foresight,
   foresightedness, forethought, forethoughtfulness, foundation, fuel,
   furnishing, furnishment, gas, gas up, gifting, given, giving,
   grant, granting, grass, gratify, graze, groceries, grounds,
   groundwork, health food, heap, hoard, hooker, impartation,
   impartment, ingesta, insurance, inventory, investiture, joker,
   junk food, keep, kicker, kitchen stuff, larder, liberality,
   limiting condition, livelihood, living, longsightedness,
   looking ahead, maintenance, makeready, making ready, manna,
   manufacture, mass, material, materials, materiel, measures, meat,
   mess, mobilization, mothering, munitions, nourishment, nurture,
   obligation, offer, oil, outfitting, parameter, pasture, pile,
   planning, plenitude, plenty, prearrangement, precaution,
   precautions, precautiousness, prediction, preliminaries,
   preliminary, preliminary act, preliminary step, prep, preparation,
   preparatory study, preparing, prepping, prepublication,
   prerequisite, presentation, presentment, pretreatment,
   preventive measure, preview, prevision, price support, processing,
   propaedeutic, prospect, prospection, protection, provender,
   providence, providing, provisioning, provisionment, provisions,
   proviso, prudence, purvey, purveyance, qualification, quantity,
   rations, readiness, readying, regale, repertoire, repertory,
   requirement, requisite, reservation, restriction, rick, safeguard,
   sagacity, satisfy, saving clause, sell, sine qua non, small print,
   spadework, specification, spread, stack, staples, steps,
   steps and measures, stipulation, stock, stock-in-trade, stockpile,
   stocks, store, stores, string, strings, subscription,
   subsidization, subsidy, subsistence, subvention, supplies, supply,
   supply on hand, supplying, support, surrender, sustain,
   sustainment, sustenance, sustentation, table, tender loving care,
   term, terms, top off, training, treasure, treasury, treatment,
   trial, tryout, tucker, ultimatum, upkeep, viands, victual,
   victuals, vittles, vouchsafement, warm-up, whereas,
   wine and dine
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
PROVISION, com. law. The property which a drawer of a bill of exchange
places in the hands of a drawee; as, for example, by remittances, or when
the drawee is indebted to the drawer when the bill becomes due, provision is
said to have been made. Acceptance always presumes a provision. See Code de
Comm. art. 115, 116, 117.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
PROVISION, French law. An allowance granted by a judge to a party for his
support; which is to be paid before there is a definitive judgment. In a
civil case, for example, it is an allowance made to a wife who is separated
from her husband. Dict. de Jurisp. h.t.