ration Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the food allowance for one day (especially for service personnel)
    • the rations should be nutritionally balanced
  2. noun a fixed portion that is allotted (especially in times of scarcity)
  3. verb restrict the consumption of a relatively scarce commodity, as during war
    • Bread was rationed during the siege of the city
  4. verb distribute in rations, as in the army
    ration out.
    • Cigarettes are rationed

WordNet

Ra"tion noun
Etymology
F., fr. L. ratio a reckoning, calculation, relation, reference, LL. ratio ration. See Ratio.
Definitions
  1. A fixed daily allowance of provisions assigned to a soldier in the army, or a sailor in the navy, for his subsistence. ✍ Officers have several rations, the number varying according to their rank or the number of their attendants.
  2. Hence, a certain portion or fixed amount dealt out; an allowance; an allotment.
Ra"tion transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To supply with rations, as a regiment.

Webster 1913