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ration out

 - 3 dictionary results

ra⋅tion

  [rash-uhn, rey-shuhn]
Use ration out 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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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: 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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