allowance

Etymology

From Middle English allouance, from Old French alouance. Morphologically allow + -ance.

noun

1. Permission; granting, conceding, or admitting
2. Acknowledgment.
3. An amount, portion, or share that is allotted or granted; a sum granted as a reimbursement, a bounty, or as appropriate for any purpose
   her meagre allowance of food or drink
   Being a volunteer is unpaid, but we get accommodation and a living allowance of 100 euros a week.
4. Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of mitigating circumstances
   to make allowance for his naivety
5. (commerce) A customary deduction from the gross weight of goods, differing by country.
   Tare and tret are examples of allowance.
6. (horse racing) A permitted reduction in the weight that a racehorse must carry.
   On the Flat, an apprentice jockey starts with an allowance of 7 lb.
7. A child's allowance; pocket money.
   She gives her daughters each an allowance of thirty dollars a month.
8. (minting) A permissible deviation in the fineness and weight of coins, owing to the difficulty in securing exact conformity to the standard prescribed by law.
9. (obsolete) Approval; approbation.
   […]gave allowance where he needed none 1807, George Crabbe, The Parish Register
10. (obsolete) License; indulgence.
    this Allowance for their Transgressions 1695, John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity
11. (engineering) A planned deviation between an exact dimension and a nominal or theoretical dimension.

verb

1. (transitive) To put upon a fixed allowance (especially of provisions and drink).
   The captain was obliged to allowance his crew.
2. (transitive) To supply in a fixed and limited quantity.
   Our provisions were allowanced.