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ration

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ra⋅tion

  [rash-uhn, rey-shuhn]
Use ration in a Sentence
–noun
1. a fixed allowance of provisions or food, esp. for soldiers or sailors or for civilians during a shortage: a daily ration of meat and bread.
2. an allotted amount: They finally saved up enough gas rations for the trip.
3. rations,
a. provisions: Enough rations were brought along to feed all the marchers.
b. Chiefly South Atlantic States. food or meals: The old hotel still has the best rations in town.
–verb (used with object)
4. to supply, apportion, or distribute as rations (often fol. by out): to ration out food to an army.
5. to supply or provide with rations: to ration an army with food.
6. to restrict the consumption of (a commodity, food, etc.): to ration meat during war.
7. to restrict the consumption of (a consumer): The civilian population was rationed while the war lasted.
Origin:
1540–50; < F < L ratiōn- (s. of ratiō); see reason

Synonyms:
1, 2. portion, allotment. 1, 3. See food. 4. mete, dole, allot.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ra·tion   (rāsh'ən, rā'shən)   
n.  

  1. A fixed portion, especially an amount of food allotted to persons in military service or to civilians in times of scarcity.

  2. rations Food issued or available to members of a group.

tr.v.   ra·tioned, ra·tion·ing, ra·tions

  1. To supply with rations.

  2. To distribute as rations: rationed out flour and sugar. See Synonyms at distribute.

  3. To restrict to limited allotments, as during wartime.


[French, from Latin ratiō, ratiōn-, calculation; see ratio.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

ration 
1550, "reasoning," later, "relation of one number to another" (1666), then "fixed allowance of food" (1702, often rations, from Fr. ration), from L. rationem (nom. ratio) "reckoning, calculation, proportion" (see ratio). The verb meaning "put (someone) on a fixed allowance" is recorded from 1859; sense of "apportion in fixed amounts" is from 1870. The military pronunciation (rhymes with fashion) took over from the preferred civilian pronunciation (rhymes with nation) during World War I. Rationing is from 1918, from conditions in England during the war.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 1ra·tion
Pronunciation: 'rash-&n, 'rA-sh&n
Function: noun
: a food allowance for one day

Main Entry: 2ration
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: ra·tioned; ra·tion·ing /'rash-(&-)ni[ng], 'rAsh-/
: to supply with or put on rations
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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