allowance

1 an amount allowed or granted (as during a given period); "travel allowance"; "my weekly allowance of two eggs"; "a child's allowance should not be too generous"

2 a sum granted as reimbursement for expenses

3 an amount added or deducted on the basis of qualifying circumstances; "an allowance for profit" [syn: adjustment]

4 a permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits [syn: leeway, margin, tolerance]

5 a reserve fund created by a charge against profits in order to provide for changes in the value of a company's assets [syn: valuation reserve, valuation account, allowance account]

6 the act of allowing; "He objected to the allowance of smoking in the diningroom" v : put on a fixed allowance, as of food

English

Etymology

alouance (cf allouer)

Pronunciation

• /əˈlaʊəns/, /@"laU@ns/

Noun

1. The act of allowing, granting, conceding, or admitting; authorization; permission; sanction; tolerance.

   Without the king's will or the state's allowance. --Shak.

2. Acknowledgment.

   The censure of the which one must in your allowance overweigh a whole theater of others. --Shak.

3. That which is allowed; a share or portion allotted or granted; a sum granted as a reimbursement, a bounty, or as appropriate for any purpose; a stated quantity, as of food or drink; hence, a limited quantity of meat and drink, when provisions fall short.

   I can give the boy a handsome allowance. --Thackeray.

4. Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of mitigating circumstances; as, to make allowance for the inexperience of youth.

   After making the largest allowance for fraud. --Macaulay.

5. (commercial) A customary deduction from the gross weight of goods, different in different countries, such as tare and tret.
6. A child's allowance; pocket money.

Translations

Allowance may refer to:

• Allowance (money)
• Allowances in accounting, see Accounts receivable
• Personal allowance in the United Kingdom's taxing system
• Jobseeker's Allowance, a term for unemployment benefit in the United Kingdom
• EU Allowances
• Allowance (engineering)
• In grocery retail, “allowances” refers to discounts given to retailers in exchange for either favorable placement of a product in their stores, or sometimes even the initial or continued stocking of a product.
• Tradable allowance
• Baggage allowance on airlines
• Decorative Allowance in real estate
• Seam allowance in stitching

See also

• Allowance system
• Attendance allowance

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