ALLOWANCE

I. noun Date: 14th century 1. a share or portion allotted or granted, a sum granted as a reimbursement or bounty or for expenses , a fixed or available amount , a reduction from a list price or stated price , an imposed handicap (as in a horse race), an allowed dimensional difference between mating parts of a machine, the act of allowing ; permission , a taking into account of mitigating circumstances or contingencies , II. transitive verb (-anced; -ancing) Date: 1758 to put on a fixed ~ (as of food and drink), to supply in a fixed or regular quantity