Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of allowing.
  • noun An amount that is allowed or granted.
  • noun Something, such as money, given at regular intervals or for a specific purpose.
  • noun A small amount of money regularly given to a child, often as payment for household chores.
  • noun A price reduction, especially one granted in exchange for used merchandise.
  • transitive verb To put on a fixed allowance.
  • transitive verb To dispense in fixed quantities; ration.
  • idiom (make allowance/allowances) To take into consideration when planning something.
  • idiom (make allowance/allowances) To make excuses for or treat with leniency.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • 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.
  • noun Praise; commendation.
  • noun Sanction; approbation; authorization: as, a judge's allowance of a compromise or settlement of a case by the parties interested.
  • noun Reputation.
  • noun Sanction; approval; tolerance: as, the allowance of slavery.
  • noun Admission or acceptance; a conceding or granting: as, the allowance of a claim.
  • noun 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.
  • noun Specifically, in law, an extra sum awarded besides regular costs to the successful party in a difficult case.
  • noun A deduction: as, the allowances made in commerce for tare, breakages, etc.
  • noun 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.
  • noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To put upon a fixed allowance (esp. of provisions and drink); to supply in a fixed and limited quantity
  • noun obsolete Approval; approbation.
  • noun The act of allowing, granting, conceding, or admitting; authorization; permission; sanction; tolerance.
  • noun Acknowledgment.
  • noun obsolete License; indulgence.
  • noun 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.
  • noun Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of mitigating circumstances.
  • noun (com.) A customary deduction from the gross weight of goods, different in different countries, such as tare and tret.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of allowing, granting, conceding, or admitting; authorization; permission; sanction; tolerance.
  • noun Acknowledgment.
  • noun 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.
  • noun Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of mitigating circumstances; as, to make allowance for the inexperience of youth.
  • noun commerce A customary deduction from the gross weight of goods, different in different countries, such as tare and tret.
  • noun A child's allowance; pocket money.
  • verb To put upon a fixed allowance (especially of provisions and drink); to supply in a fixed and limited quantity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

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

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French alouance (Modern French allouance, see also the verb allouer).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word allowance.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • 'You've been helped once to meat,' said Miss Brass, summing up the facts; 'you have had as much as you can eat, you're asked if you want any more, and you answer, "no!" Then don't you ever go and say you were allowanced, mind that.'

    The Old Curiosity Shop, ch. 36

    Verb possibly coined by Dickens: the earliest OED citations are here twice and Nicholas Nickleby.

    August 13, 2008