allot

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English alotten,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman aloter, also alloter,^[6][7] which most dictionaries describe as Old French aloter.^{[2][3][8][5][9][10][11]} The OED finds the Anglo-Norman verb in 1304,^[6] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary in 1316.^[7] It is formed from a- (“to”), from Latin ad,^[5][4][10] and lot (“portion”),^[5][6][9] a word of Germanic origin,^[5][8][3] and Klein calls the result a hybrid.^[12] The French noun is cognate with Old English hlot, Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍄𐍃 (hlauts) and Old High German hloz.^[8] The modern French verb is allotir, recorded from 1611.^[6][11][8] The OED compares Middle French alocter, apparently isolated, from before 1457.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give or assign something authoritatively, or to distribute shares: 1473–4, in the Rolls of Parliament,^[6] with Barnhart and the MED dating the same record 1474, of lands assigned to a person.^[3][2] Etymonline says the late 15th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline, Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and Johnson (1755) give "to distribute by lot" as the first meaning.^{[8][9][11][13]} The OED's revised entry instead defines the Anglo-Norman and early English verb as to give something out by authority, the recipient having no control.^[6] In the 1530s it was used of God or fate fixing a person's condition or lifespan, and more generally of setting something aside as someone's share or for a purpose, the sense now commonest.^[6][11] It could also mean to attribute something as due, as Johnson did when he wrote of what a man allots to accident in his rise,^[11][6] and to appoint a person to a post, both now somewhat archaic.^[6] In the 19th century, in North America and chiefly in New England, it came to mean to reckon or intend,^[6][11] and the English Dialect Dictionary records "to intend, look forward to" (usually with on or upon) in Norfolk and Suffolk, and "to grant, admit" in Somerset.^[14] The noun allotment follows in 1574.^[3]

Timeline

• 1473–4 – to assign authoritatively; to distribute shares.^[6][3][2]
• 1528–30 – intransitive, to be assigned (obsolete, rare).^[6]
• 1532 – of God or fate, to decide a person's condition or lifespan.^[6]
• 1534 – to set aside as someone's share or responsibility.^[6]
• c. 1556 – to attribute something as due or proper.^[6]
• 1566 – to designate a person for a task or office.^[6]
• 1619 – with a direct and an indirect object.^[6]
• 1816 – North American regional, to reckon or intend.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give out as a share; to assign or distribute: The committee allotted each team two hours on the pitch.^[15][4][6]
2. To set aside for a particular purpose; to allocate: The council allotted part of its budget to road repairs.^[15][4][6]
3. Of God or fate, to fix as a person's lot; to ordain.^[4][6]
4. (North American regional, colloquial) To reckon or intend.^[6][11]
5. (archaic) To attribute as due or proper.^[6][11]

Word family

• allotter
• allottable
• allotment
• unallotted
• allottee
• misallot
• preallot
• reallot

Related words

• lot

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins