allotment

[Eng. allot; -ment.] A. Ordinary Language: 1. The act of a igning by lot, or of a igning in any way to one as his lot or share, or of bestowing anything on any one. 2. The state of being so allotted, or having one's lot a igned. "I see it not in their allotment here." Byron Cain, ii. 1. 3. Anything allotted. (a) Anything allotted to a person; one's share or portion. "... and they were not even permitted to buy the allotments, when the grantee was willing to sell." Lewis : Early Rom . Hist ., ch. xiii., pt. i., § 9. (b) Anything appropriated to a particular purpose, or set apart for a special use. "It is laid out into a grove for fruits and shade, a vineyard, and an allotment for olives and herbs." Broome . B. Technically : 1. Comm. The dividing of a ship's cargo into portions, the right of purchasing which is a igned to several persons by lot. 2. Polit. Econ. Allotment of Land, or the Allotment System: An a ignment of small portions of land to agricultural labourers or the humbler cla of artisans gratuitously, or for a small rent, to enable them to eke out their scanty incomes, and develop home feelings in their minds. Or an a ignment of portions of land for the production of particular crops. ( Mill : Pol. Econ., pp. 440, .) allotment-holder, s . One who holds an allotment. "It does not answer to any one to pay others for exerting all the labour which the peasant, or even the allotment-holder, gladly undergoes when the fruits are to be wholly reaped by himself."- Mill : Polit . Econ .