allowance

English

Alternative forms

• allowaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English allouance, from Old French alouance.

Morphologically allow +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

• audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /əˈlaʊəns/

Noun

allowance (countable and uncountable, plural allowances)

1. Permission; granting, conceding, or admitting
   • 1613, William Shakespeare; [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     you sent a large commission to Gregory de Cassado, to conclude, without the King's will or the state's allowance

   • Permission definition

     authorisation; consent (especially formal consent from someone in authority) (1 of 3 permission definitions)

   • Grant definition

     to give (permission or wish) (1 of 4 grant definitions)

   • Concede definition

     To yield or suffer; to surrender; to grant (1 of 6 concede definitions)

   • Admit definition

     To allow to enter; to grant entrance (to), whether into a place, into the mind, or into consideration (1 of 6 admit definitions)
2. Acknowledgment.
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     The censure of the which one must in your allowance overweigh a whole theater of others.

   • Acknowledgment definition

     The act of acknowledging (1 of 9 acknowledgment definitions)
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.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, OCLC 3174108:

     Some persons averred that Sir Pitt Crawley gave his brother a handsome allowance.

   • Reimbursement definition

     The act of compensating someone for an expense.
4. Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of mitigating circumstances

   to make allowance for his naivety

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323:

     After making the largest allowance for fraud.

   • Abatement definition

     The act of abating, or the state of being abated; a lessening, diminution, or reduction; a moderation; removal or putting an end to; the suppression. (1 of 7 abatement definitions)

   • Deduction definition

     That which is deducted; that which is subtracted or removed (1 of 5 deduction definitions)
5. (commerce) A customary deduction from the gross weight of goods, differing by country.

   Tare and tret are examples of allowance.

   • Tare definition

     A vetch, or the seed of a vetch (genus Vicia, esp. Vicia sativa) (1 of 3 tare definitions)

   • Tret definition

     An allowance to purchasers, for waste or refuse matter, of four pounds on every 104 pounds of suttle weight, or weight after the tare is deducted.
6. (horse racing) A permitted reduction in the weight that a racehorse must carry.

   Antonym: penalty

   On the Flat, an apprentice jockey starts with an allowance of 7 lb.

   • Horse Racing definition

     A sport where horses and their jockeys compete to race around a track the fastest.

   • Penalty definition

     A legal sentence. (1 of 7 penalty definitions)
7. A child's allowance; pocket money.

   She gives her daughters each an allowance of thirty dollars a month.

   • Pocket Money definition

     A small sum of money given to a child, by a parent or guardian. (1 of 2 pocket money definitions)
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.

   • Deviation definition

     The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road. (1 of 9 deviation definitions)

   • Fineness definition

     The quality or degree of being fine. (1 of 3 fineness definitions)

   • Weight definition

     The force on an object due to the gravitational attraction between it and the Earth (or whatever astronomical object it is primarily influenced by). (1 of 22 weight definitions)

   • Coin definition

     A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle. (1 of 8 coin definitions)
9. (obsolete) Approval; approbation.
   • 1807, George Crabbe, The Parish Register

     […] gave allowance where he needed none

   • Approval definition

     An expression granting permission; an indication of agreement with a proposal; an acknowledgement that a person, thing, or event meets requirements. (1 of 3 approval definitions)

   • Approbation definition

     The act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval, sanction, commendation or official recognition.
10. (obsolete) License; indulgence.
    • 1695, John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity

      this Allowance for their Transgressions

    • License definition

      A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit. (1 of 5 license definitions)

    • Indulgence definition

      The act of indulging. (1 of 7 indulgence definitions)
11. (engineering) A planned deviation between an exact dimension and a nominal or theoretical dimension.

    • Engineering definition

      present participle of engineer

Synonyms

• (act of allowing): authorization, permission, sanction, tolerance.
• (money): stipend
• (minting): remedy, tolerance

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Cebuano: alawans
• → Malay: élaun

Translations

Verb

allowance (third-person singular simple present allowances, present participle allowancing, simple past and past participle allowanced)

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.

References

• allowance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.