RATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ration mean? 

• RATION (noun)
  The noun RATION has 2 senses:

1. the food allowance for one day (especially for service personnel)

2. a fixed portion that is allotted (especially in times of scarcity)

  Familiarity information: RATION used as a noun is rare.

• RATION (verb)
  The verb RATION has 2 senses:

1. restrict the consumption of a relatively scarce commodity, as during war

2. distribute in rations, as in the army

  Familiarity information: RATION used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The food allowance for one day (especially for service personnel)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Context example:

the rations should be nutritionally balanced

Hypernyms ("ration" is a kind of...):

fare (the food and drink that are regularly served or consumed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ration"):

field ration (rations issued for United States troops in the field)

Derivation:

ration (distribute in rations, as in the army)

ration (restrict the consumption of a relatively scarce commodity, as during war)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A fixed portion that is allotted (especially in times of scarcity)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("ration" is a kind of...):

part; percentage; portion; share (assets belonging to or due to or contributed by an individual person or group)

Derivation:

ration (distribute in rations, as in the army)

ration (restrict the consumption of a relatively scarce commodity, as during war)

• RATION (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ration    ... he / she / it rations   
Past simple: rationed   
Past participle: rationed   
-ing form: rationing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Restrict the consumption of a relatively scarce commodity, as during war

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

Bread was rationed during the siege of the city

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

curb; curtail; cut back; restrict (place restrictions on)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

ration (the food allowance for one day (especially for service personnel))

ration (a fixed portion that is allotted (especially in times of scarcity))

rationing (the act of rationing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Distribute in rations, as in the army

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

ration; ration out

Context example:

Cigarettes are rationed

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

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

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

ration (the food allowance for one day (especially for service personnel))

ration (a fixed portion that is allotted (especially in times of scarcity))

 Context examples 

Don't bother about rations, I'll see to that and everything else, only do come, there's a good fellow!

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They had “got their rations for that day,” as the captain put it, and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul the wounded and get dinner.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But when Buck finished his ration and returned, he found his nest occupied.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

A little solace came at tea-time, in the shape of a double ration of bread—a whole, instead of a half, slice—with the delicious addition of a thin scrape of butter: it was the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward from Sabbath to Sabbath.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Bright and early, to be sure; and it's the early bird, as the saying goes, that gets the rations.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Hungry as he was, he would not move to receive his ration of fish, which François had to bring to him.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“As for powder and shot, we'll do. But the rations are short, very short—so short, Dr. Livesey, that we're perhaps as well without that extra mouth.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The pound and a half of sun-dried salmon, which was his ration for each day, seemed to go nowhere.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

A dainty eater, he found that his mates, finishing first, robbed him of his unfinished ration.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

So he cut down even the orthodox ration and tried to increase the day’s travel.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)