allowance

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of allowing.
2. n. An amount that is allowed or granted: consumed my weekly allowance of two eggs.
3. n. Something, such as money, given at regular intervals or for a specific purpose: a travel allowance that covers hotel bills.
4. n. A price reduction, especially one granted in exchange for used merchandise: The dealer gave us an allowance on our old car.
5. n. A consideration for possibilities or modifying circumstances: an allowance for breakage; made allowances for rush-hour traffic in estimating travel time.
6. n. An allowed difference in dimension of closely mating machine parts.
7. v. To put on a fixed allowance: cut expenses by strictly allowancing the sales representatives.
8. v. To dispense in fixed quantities; ration.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Sanction; approval; tolerance: as, the allowance of slavery.
2. n. Admission or acceptance; a conceding or granting: as, the allowance of a claim.
3. n. Allotment; apportionment; a definite sum or quantity set apart or granted, such as alimony: as, an allowance by a husband to a wife; an allowance of grog or tobacco to a seaman; an allowance of pocket-money.
4. n. Specifically, in law, an extra sum awarded besides regular costs to the successful party in a difficult case.
5. n. A deduction: as, the allowances made in commerce for tare, breakages, etc.
6. n. An abatement or addition on account of some extenuating, qualifying, enhancing, or other circumstance: as, to make allowances for a person's youth or inexperience; allowance for difference of time; allowance for shrinkage of values, etc.
7. n. In minting, a permissible deviation in the fineness and weight of coins, owing to the difficulty of securing exact conformity to the standard prescribed by law. In the United States the allowance for the fineness of gold coins is .001, and for weight a quarter of a grain to each one-dollar piece; in silver coins the allowance for fineness is .003, and for weight 1½ grains to each coin. In the gold coinage of France the allowance for both fineness and weight is .002, and of England .002 for fineness and two grains in each sovereign for weight. Also called remedy and tolerance (which see).
8. To put upon allowance; limit to a certain fixed periodic amount of anything: as, to allowance a spendthrift; distress compelled the captain of the ship to allowance his crew.
9. n. Praise; commendation.
10. n. Sanction; approbation; authorization: as, a judge's allowance of a compromise or settlement of a case by the parties interested.
11. n. Reputation.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of allowing, granting, conceding, or admitting; authorization; permission; sanction; tolerance.
2. n. Acknowledgment.
3. n. That which is allowed; a share or portion allotted or granted; a sum granted as a reimbursement, a bounty, or as appropriate for any purpose; a stated quantity, as of food or drink; hence, a limited quantity of meat and drink, when provisions fall short.
4. n. Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of mitigating circumstances; as, to make allowance for the inexperience of youth.
5. n. commerce A customary deduction from the gross weight of goods, different in different countries, such as tare and tret.
6. n. A child's allowance; pocket money.
7. v. To put upon a fixed allowance (especially of provisions and drink); to supply in a fixed and limited quantity.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete Approval; approbation.
2. n. The act of allowing, granting, conceding, or admitting; authorization; permission; sanction; tolerance.
3. n. Acknowledgment.
4. n. obsolete License; indulgence.
5. n. That which is allowed; a share or portion allotted or granted; a sum granted as a reimbursement, a bounty, or as appropriate for any purpose; a stated quantity, as of food or drink; hence, a limited quantity of meat and drink, when provisions fall short.
6. n. Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of mitigating circumstances.
7. n. (com.) A customary deduction from the gross weight of goods, different in different countries, such as tare and tret.
8. v. To put upon a fixed allowance (esp. of provisions and drink); to supply in a fixed and limited quantity

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an amount allowed or granted (as during a given period)
2. v. put on a fixed allowance, as of food
3. n. the act of allowing
4. n. a sum granted as reimbursement for expenses
5. n. an amount added or deducted on the basis of qualifying circumstances
6. n. a reserve fund created by a charge against profits in order to provide for changes in the value of a company's assets
7. n. a permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits