ra·tion

[rash-uhn, rey-shuhn]
noun
1.
a fixed allowance of provisions or food, especially 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 followed 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.
00:10
Rationing is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

Origin:
1540–50; < French < Latin ratiōn- (stem of ratiō); see reason

un·ra·tioned, adjective


1, 2. portion, allotment. 1, 3. See food. 4. mete, dole, allot.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
ration (ˈræʃən) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a.  a fixed allowance of food, provisions, etc, esp a statutory one for civilians in time of scarcity or soldiers in time of war: a tea ration
 b.  (as modifier): a ration book
2.  a sufficient or adequate amount: you've had your ration of television for today
 
vb
3.  (often foll by out) to distribute (provisions), esp to an army
4.  to restrict the distribution or consumption of (a commodity) by (people): the government has rationed sugar; sugar is short, so I'll have to ration you
 
[C18: via French from Latin ratiō calculation; see reason]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline
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, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

rationing definition


A regulated allocation of resources among possible users.

Note: The U.S. government has engaged in rationing usually only under conditions of extreme shortage or economic hardship; certain resources were rationed, for example, during World War II.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
Second, electricity rationing may keep output depressed for longer than
  originally anticipated.
These type of articles are preparing the public for healthcare rationing.
But some patient advocates and politicians portrayed the review as a step
  toward rationing.
It's not easy, what with the stringent rationing laws.
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