ALLOT (allotted, allotting)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: allotted    , allotting   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does allot mean? 

• ALLOT (verb)
  The verb ALLOT has 3 senses:

1. give out

2. allow to have

3. administer or bestow, as in small portions

  Familiarity information: ALLOT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALLOT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they allot    ... he / she / it allots   
Past simple: allotted   
Past participle: allotted   
-ing form: allotting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give out

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

allot; assign; portion

Context example:

We were assigned new uniforms

Hypernyms (to "allot" is one way to...):

administer; allot; deal; deal out; dish out; dispense; distribute; dole out; lot; mete out; parcel out; shell out (administer or bestow, as in small portions)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "allot"):

allow; appropriate; earmark; reserve; set aside (give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause)

allocate; apportion (distribute according to a plan or set apart for a special purpose)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Allow to have

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

accord; allot; grant

Context example:

grant a privilege

Hypernyms (to "allot" is one way to...):

give (transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "allot"):

give (accord by verdict)

enfranchise (grant voting rights)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Administer or bestow, as in small portions

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

administer; allot; deal; deal out; dish out; dispense; distribute; dole out; lot; mete out; parcel out; shell out

Context example:

the machine dispenses soft drinks

Hypernyms (to "allot" is one way to...):

give (transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "allot"):

allot; assign; portion (give out)

reallot (allot again)

deal (distribute cards to the players in a game)

apply; give (give or convey physically)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sentence examples:

They allot the food to the people
They allot the people the food

Derivation:

allotment (the act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan)

 Context examples 

An allotting or an appointment to a particular person or use, or for a particular time or object.

(Assignment, NCI Thesaurus)

A person or group with authority to allot or deal out or apportion.

(Distributor, NCI Thesaurus)

A ghastly grin wrinkled his lips as he gazed on me, where I sat fulfilling the task which he had allotted to me.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

As designed at first, no dwelling had been allotted to the lord of the castle and his family but the dark and dismal basement story of the keep.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

How much time she might, in her own fancy, allot for its dominion, is another concern.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

In such meetings five minutes was the time allotted to each speaker; but when Martin's five minutes were up, he was in full stride, his attack upon their doctrines but half completed.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I know not how she occupied herself before breakfast, but after that meal she divided her time into regular portions, and each hour had its allotted task.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

At last man was to be supreme and the man-beast to find forever his allotted place.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By his wise precaution the seats had been allotted beforehand, so that the gentlemen might be scattered among the professionals and no risk run of two enemies finding themselves together, or a man who had been recently beaten falling into the company of his conqueror.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Some future traveller, visiting, from motives of curiosity, not unmingled, let us hope, with sympathy, the place of confinement allotted to debtors in this city, may, and I trust will, Ponder, as he traces on its wall, inscribed with a rusty nail,

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)