ration

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A fixed portion, especially an amount of food allotted to persons in military service or to civilians in times of scarcity.
2. n. Food issued or available to members of a group.
3. v. To supply with rations.
4. v. To distribute as rations: rationed out flour and sugar. See Synonyms at distribute.
5. v. To restrict to limited allotments, as during wartime.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An allowance of means of subsistence for a fixed period of time; specifically, in the army and navy, an allotment or apportionment of provisions for daily consumption to each officer and man, or of forage for each horse. Officers' rations are generally commuted for a money payment at a prescribed rate; and soldiers' and sailors' rations may be partly or wholly commuted under some circumstances.
2. n. Any stated or fixed amount or quantity dealt out; an allowance or allotment.
3. To supply with rations; provision.
4. To divide into rations; distribute or apportion in rations.
5. n. In stock-feeding, the sum of food regularly supplied to an animal, usually the amount per day. A scientific ration contains in due proportion and amount the essential food ingredients, namely, fats and carbohydrates, which supply heat and working-energy (heat-producers); and protein (nitrogenous substances), which provides for the upbuilding and repair of tissues (flesh-producers). The absolute and relative amounts required are learned from experience and vary with the animal and its occupation. See feeding standard, nutritive ratio, and phrases below. A ration is governed not by the actual amount of the ingredients, but by the amount digestible (often much less than the whole), this being determined by experiments the results of which are published in tables. Feeding standards are not now much used for precise calculation.

Wiktionary

1. n. A portion designated to a person or group.
2. v. transitive To supply with a ration; to limit (someone) to a specific allowance of something.
3. v. transitive To portion out (especially during a shortage of supply); to limit access to.
4. v. transitive To restrict (an activity etc.)

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A fixed daily allowance of provisions assigned to a soldier in the army, or a sailor in the navy, for his subsistence.
2. n. Hence, a certain portion or fixed amount dealt out; an allowance; an allotment.
3. v. To supply with rations, as a regiment.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. restrict the consumption of a relatively scarce commodity, as during war
2. v. distribute in rations, as in the army
3. n. a fixed portion that is allotted (especially in times of scarcity)
4. n. the food allowance for one day (especially for service personnel)