Also 4 alouance, 5 alowans, 5–6 alowance. [a. OFr. alouance, f. alouer: see ALLOW and -ANCE.] The action of allowing; a thing allowed.
I. Of praising, approving, admitting, permitting.
† 1. Praise, applause. Obs.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 215. Of logyke ne of lawe In legenda sanctorum Is litel allowaunce made.
a. 1541. Wyatt, Poet. Wks. (1861), 203. Vain allowance of his own desert.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 259. It is not the allowance or applause of men that I seek.
2. Approbation, approval; sanction; voluntary acceptance. arch.
1552. Huloet, Allowaunce, accepcion or estimation, Acceptio.
1561. T. N[orton], trans. Calvin’s Inst., I. To Reader. If I did not, holding myselfe contented with the allowance of God alone, despise the iugementes of men.
1604. Edmonds, Observ. Cæsar’s Comm., 107. They all with one consent made allowance of Vercingetorix for their Generall.
1707. Lond. Gaz., mmmmcccxxxvi/8. Her Creditors are required to … assent to or dissent from the Allowance of her Certificate.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. v. 130. They cannot be gratified at all … with the allowance of the moral principle.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 426. He look’d smiling on And gave allowance where he needed none.
† 3. Admission of something claimed or charged, acknowledgement. Obs.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xxxii. (1617), 564. This is a good proof and allowance of their innocency.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 30. The censure of the which One, must in your allowance o’reway a whole Theater of Others.
1756. Burke, Subl. & B., Wks. I. 232. Modesty which is a tacit allowance of imperfection.
4. Permission, tolerance, sufferance.
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., Premon. 6. Because I could not get allowance to doe it publikely.
1689. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., I. 261. Nor had he given Tho. Lloyd any allowance to sett his hand to any thing.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xiii. 184. Some murmur at the allowance of reading the Scriptures.
1753. Richardson, Grandison (1781), IV. iii. 22. By the Doctor’s allowance, I enclose it to you.
1872. Freeman, Gen. Sketch, xvii. § 19. 364. There were many causes of difference between them, the chief being the allowance of slavery in the South.
II. Of taking into account, allotting, granting.
5. The action of placing to one’s credit, admitting as an item in an account, or allotting a sum on account of the expenses of a person or thing.
1574. trans. Littleton’s Tenures, 27 a. Such a wardeine … shall have allowance of al hys reasonable costes.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., 1. Against Church-maintenance and allowance it is not vnknowen what a fiction was deuised.
1625. Bacon, Ess. (1874), 24. Illiberalitie of Parents in allowance towards their Children.
1845. Stephen, Laws of Eng., II. 315. Allowance shall be made to him for all his reasonable costs and expenses.
† 6. A sum allowed in account; an amount placed on the other side of the account as an equivalent; a consideration. Obs.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. X. 271. Þy lord lokeþ to haue a-louance for hus [i.e., his] bestes, And of þe monye þow haddist þer-myd.
1574. trans. Littleton’s Tenures, 52 b. The landes in fee simple bee alotted to ye younger daughter in allowance of the tenementes tayled, allotted to the elder daughter.
7. A definite portion, sum, or amount, allotted or granted to meet any expenses or requirements.
a. Of money, to meet one’s expenses.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., Alowans, Allocacio.
1539. Househ. Ord., in Thynne’s Animadv., Pref. 35. Then he [i.e., the Clerk-Comptroller] to controule the same [expenditure], giving noe larger allowance than there ought to be.
1662. J. Ward, Diary (1839), 183. Mr. Shakspeare … had an allowance so large, that hee spent att the rate of 1,000l. a-year.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 295, ¶ 6. They consider this Allowance [Pin-money] as a kind of Alimoney.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. ix. 71. Five ten-guinea notes for your last quarterly allowance.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 464. An excellent order … increasing the allowances of Captains.
b. A limited portion of food. Hence the phr. at no allowance, without stint, at pleasure.
1580. Baret, Alv., A 302. That schollers call their commons or alowance, Demensum.
1607. Topsell, Four-footed Beasts (1673), 237. That so every beast may eat his own allowance.
1611. Bible, 2 Kings xxv. 30. His allowance was a continuall allowance giuen him of the king, a dayly rate for euery day.
1711. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn., 56. The short Allowance, the Bread and Water of a Prison.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xiii. 44. They had but their allowance of bread and grog for one day.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., III. VIII. v. 42. His people pluck him at no allowance.
c. A restricted portion of anything granted.
1637. Milton, Comus, 308. In such a scant allowance of starlight.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 14, ¶ 12. We had also but a very short Allowance of Thunder and Lightning.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. IV. i. 166. A popularity of twenty-four hours was, in those times [1788], no uncommon allowance.
8. A sum or item put to one’s credit in an account; hence, rebate, deduction, discount. To make allowance: to add to or deduct from a reckoning, in order to provide for some incidental circumstance.
1530. Palsgr., 194/1. Alowaunce for money, aloouance.
1552. Huloet, Allowaunce in rekenynge, Subductio.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 77. There must be an allowance for the waste of the Timber.
1740. Act of Parl., in Hanway Trav. (1762), I. I. ix. 44. With such allowances, abatements, discounts, and drawbacks … as are by law prescribed.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., I. 326. He made no allowance for what the portion of the earth in question perspired at the same time.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. § 25. 363. Making allowance for the time required by the sound to ascend from the bottom.
1870. Pinkerton, Guide to Administr., 43. The usual allowance for Administrators’ commissions in Pennsylvania is five per cent. upon the personal property.
9. fig. The taking into account, or consideration, of mitigating, extenuating, or excusing circumstances. Usually in phr. To make allowance for.
1676. Dryden, Dram. Wks., IV. 75. This Honesty of theirs ought to have many Grains for its Allowance.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 274, ¶ 1. To have proper Allowances made for their Conduct.
1748. Chesterf., Lett., 173, II. 140. The spectators are always candid enough to give great allowances … to a new actor.
c. 1812. Miss Austen, Sense & Sensib. (1849), 29. To make every allowance for the colonel’s advanced state of life.
1846. Mill, Logic, VI. viii. § 3. Apply their principles with innumerable allowances.
1862. Trollope, Orley Farm, v. (ed. 4), 31. He made allowances for her weakness.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., II. vii. 4. Allowance must be made for his constant flattery of his own master.
† 10. A balance, remainder. Obs.
1528. Perkins, Profit. Bk., v. § 326 (1642), 144. If a man seised of three acres … enfeoffeth a stranger … of two of the three acres … and the wife is endowed of the third acre which remaineth as allowance of the other acres.
1552. Huloet, Allowaunce, or that whiche fulfilleth, maketh good, or vp, or supplieth that which wanteth in measure, numbre or quantity, Supplementum.
11. Comb. or Attrib. as allowance-money, system.
1700. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), IV. 697. One quarter of his majesties allowance money.
1746. W. Thompson, R. N. Advoc. (1757), 48. Who receives the Benefit of Short Allowance-Money?
1831. Edin. Rev., LIII. 48. Owing to the factitious increase of population caused by the allowance-system, the labourer is without the means of stipulating for wages.
