Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: Old French
Origin: aloter, from lot 'person's share'

allot

 verb
     
al‧lot past tense and past participle allotted, present participle allotting [transitive]
to use a particular amount of time for something, or give a particular share of money, space etc to someone or something
allot something to something/somebody
Try and allot 2 or 3 hours a day to revision.
Each school will be allotted twenty seats.
allot somebody something
Everyone who works for the company has been allotted 10 shares.
—allotted adjective [only before noun]
The department has already spent more than its allotted budget.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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