furnish
v.to put furniture into a room or building. It can also mean to provide someone with something they need, like information.
v.to provide a room or building with furniture and fittings; to supply or provide something necessary. Transitive — requires a direct object.
“They need to furnish the new apartment before they move in.”
“The agency agreed to furnish the committee with all the documents required for the investigation.”
“While the landlord agreed to furnish the living area, the tenants were responsible for providing their own bedroom sets and kitchen appliances.”
The verb is transitive. When meaning 'to provide', it often follows the pattern 'furnish someone with something' or 'furnish something to someone'.
When describing the items inside a room, use the preposition 'with' rather than 'by'.
“When someone finally furnished me with the information that he must be somewhere nearby because they could see his shoes, I went to sleep thinking: no harm done.”
From Middle English furnysshen, from Old French furniss-, stem of certain parts of furnir, fornir (Modern French fournir), from Germanic, from Frankish frumjan (“to complete, execute”), from Proto-Germanic frumjaną (“to further, promote”), from Proto-Indo-European *promo- (“front, forward”). Cognate with Old High German frumjan (“to perform, provide”), Old High German fruma (“utility, gain”), Old English fremu (“profit, advantage”), Old English fremian (“to promote, perform”). More at frame, frim.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.