释义 |
▪ I. ration, n.|ˈræʃən, formerly ˈreɪʃən| Also 8 ratian. [a. F. ration (14th c. in Littré), or ad. L. ratiōn-em ratio n. The first pronunciation may be due to the adoption of the word in military use in sense 3 from Fr.] †1. Reasoning. Obs. rare—1.
1550Bp. Hooper Serm. Jonas vi. 138 b, We be not so addicte and geuen vnto humane ration, that we wyll beleue nothinge more than reason is able to accompt and geue answer for. †2. = ratio n. 2 and 3. Obs.
1666Phil. Trans. I. 272 What he saith here of Rations or Proportions. 1692O. Walker Gr. & Rom. Hist. Illustr. 6 That Ration of Gold to Silver was 12 to one. 1728R. North Mem. Music (1846) 24 The musick, and the rations of the intervals subtilized. 1815J. C. Hobhouse Substance Lett. (1816) I. 347 Increasing in a reduplicating ration. 3. a. A fixed allowance or individual share of provisions; spec. in the army and navy, the daily amount of certain articles of food allotted to each officer and man. Also, esp. in pl., simply = provisions, food.
1702–11in Milit. & Sea Dict. 1720Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. II. xiii. 276 The Corn that used to be measured out to them by Rations (or stinted Allowances) was given them with out Measure. 1776J. Hancock in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 236 The cost of a ration, as furnished by the Commissary-General. 1814Scott Wav. xvii, Cutting with their dirks their rations from the carcasses which were there suspended. 1862R. Henning Let. 19 Oct. (1966) 110 Biddulph or Mr Hedgeland goes to the out-stations with provisions, or rations, as they call them. 1865Livingstone Zambesi xx. 409 The fresh labour with diminished rations was too much for their strength. 1885Pall Mall G. 1 July 3/2 A ‘ration’ in the literal military sense of the word means 1 lb. bread and 3/4 lb. meat (bone included). 1917A. G. Empey Over Top 305 Rations, various kinds of tasteless food issued by the Government to Tommy, to kid him into the fact that he is living in luxury, while the Germans are starving. 1919W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 41 ‘Wet rations’:..Cooked foods etc...‘Dry rations’:..Uncooked food..‘Iron rations’:..Emergency rations. 1922C. E. Montague Disenchantment ii. 15 A little famished London cab-tout, a recruit, still rectilinear as a starved cat even after a month of army rations. b. Mil. The daily allowance of forage or provender assigned to each horse or other animal.
1727–41[see c]. 1802James Milit. Dict. s.v. Forage, This forage is divided into rations, one of which is a day's allowance for a horse. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 143/1 The daily ration laid down for all horses is 12 lbs. of oats and 12 lbs. of hay. c. An allowance, share, portion, of provisions or other supplies; esp. an officially limited allowance for civilians in time of war or shortage. Hence phr. off (the) ration, in addition to the allowance; unrestricted.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., The horse have rations of hay and oats, when they cannot go out to forage. 1823Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 19/2 A sum of money..in lieu of their regular ration of provisions. 1869Lecky Europ. Mor. II. i. 78 Septimus Severus added to the corn, a ration of oil. 1879A. Forbes in Daily News 25 June 6/1 He will be able to carry forward with him eighty thousand rations of fuel, consisting of coal. 1917Times 28 Feb. 10/3 Captain Bathurst, replying to Mr. Faber, said the Food Controller, since the issue of voluntary rations, had been in communication with the War Office, and an Army Council instruction was issued last week limiting the sugar ration for civilian and combatant prisoners of war to 7 oz per week. 1919E. H. Starling Feeding of Nations vi. 127 Each individual can buy of it according to his desire and satisfy his Calorie needs above those supplied in the rations. 1922H. W. Clemesha Food Control in North-West Division ii. 34 There must have been many families who were unable to afford the additional rations of meat which the cards of children would have enabled them to obtain. 1928W. H. Beveridge Brit. Food Control x. 230 The wealthy classes in particular suffered from the reduction of the meat ration. 1944Ourselves in Wartime vii. 154/2 More often than not, they forfeited their personal sweet ration, which amounted to 3 ozs. of sweets or chocolate a week in 1943, for the sake of the children. 1948Ann. Reg. 1947 246 Food shops were compelled to limit strictly the amount of ‘off ration’ foods which customers could buy at one time. 1950N. Streatfeild Mothering Sunday 31 She was the last person to look for extras off the ration. 1959in I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. vii. 105 We are three spivs of Trafalgar Square Flogging nylons tuppence a pair, All fully fashioned, all off the ration, Sold in Trafalgar Square. 1960J. Rae Custard Boys i. iv. 41 A little shop..where the old lady would sell us sweets and chocolate off the ration. 1975S. Briggs Keep Smiling Through 150 Some articles off the ration could add an exotic touch to the menu. There was turbot in 1940 and whalemeat in 1942. Ibid. 161 ‘Off the ration’ foods..like salt cod were publicized as ‘grand for children as well as grown-ups and what a bargain!’ d. transf.
1850Browning Christmas Eve ii. 7 Still, as I say, though you've found salvation, If I should choose to cry—as now—‘Shares!’—See if the best of you bars me my ration! e. Mil. slang phr.: come up (or be given) with the rations, to be awarded automatically (used deprecatingly, of military medals and decorations, to imply that they have not been earned).
1925N. & Q. 25 July 71/2 Came up with the rations. 1928H. Williamson Pathway xvii. 378 ‘Did you get the Military Cross?’ asked Mrs. Ogilvie. ‘Yes, it came up with the rations.’ ‘Oh!’ ‘A soldier's joke, Mrs. Ogilvie.’ 1937J. A. Lee Civilian into Soldier 204 ‘Bit of decoration. Congratulations.’ ‘Came up with the rations.’ He took the ribbon. But if he joked he was pleased in his soul. 1957J. Braine Room at Top xviii. 162 Lampton has no decorations apart from those which all servicemen who served his length of time are given, as they say, with the rations. 1973A. Price October Men xv. 210 The British Military Cross..didn't come up with the rations. 4. attrib. and Comb., as ration bag, ration beef, ration boot, ration-carrier, ration grievance, ration party, ration rum, ration scale, ration-sugar, ration-tea, ration warrant, etc.; ration book, a book entitling its holder to a ration; ration card, coupon, a card or coupon entitling its holder to a ration; ration sheep Austral., the sheep to be killed for food for the workers on a station; also ration-sheep paddock, ration paddock; ration strength, the number of men in an armed force, estimated by the rations supplied to them; ration ticket = ration card.
1862R. Henning Let. 5 Sept. (1966) 103 The ‘ration bags’ contained flour, sugar, tea, sardines, bacon, cheese, salt beef and salmon and jam. 1917A. G. Empey Over Top 305 Ration bag, a small, very small bag for carrying rations.
1835J. E. Alexander Sketches in Portugal iv. 101 Into an upper room marched two troopers, with a camp-kettle between them containing water, followed by two others with another kettle, containing a savoury mess of ration-beef, boiled with bread and onions. 1882B. M. Croker Proper Pride II. iii. 53 Dining heartily on ration beef and dry bread.
1918Times 1 Nov. 3/2 The Ministry of Food wish to remind the public that persons registered with retailers for tea must renew their registration as soon as possible by depositing with the retailer the ‘spare counterfoil 2’ on leaf 7 of their new ration books. 1939New Statesman 18 Nov. 700/1 The ration books..have now been distributed. 1973Country Life 20 Dec. 2120/1 As these notes are written, ration books are being issued and motorists seem anxious to use them.
1902‘Coldstreamer’ Ballads of Boer War vii. 70 If you find a time to suit, Just cop 'im with a ration boot.
1882H. Vizetelly Paris in Peril II. vii. 35 At some establishments strangers were politely informed that dinners were only served to the regular clientèle, who had handed over their ration-cards to the proprietor. 1922H. W. Clemesha Food Control in North-West Division ii. 39 When the ration cards and the vouchers had all been distributed they were lodged either with retailers or wholesalers. 1940Economist 9 Mar. 415/1 A general census is to be taken preparatory to the issue of ration-cards [in France]. 1975T. Allbeury Special Collection v. 32 The ration cards were no longer honoured. The food wasn't there any more.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 115 The ration-carriers..were always conveying provisions, water, wood, all things necessary to the shepherds.
1944Sun (Baltimore) 12 Dec. 12/8 A ‘red market’ in meat—collection of ration coupons for point free cuts.
189019th Cent. Nov. 844 One more instance of a ration grievance, and we will pass on.
1935G. L. Meredith Adventuring in Maoriland v. 41, I sometimes have to do the slaughtering. There is no ‘ration paddock’.
1917A. G. Empey Over Top 305 Ration party, men detailed to carry rations to the front line. 1928Blunden Undertones of War xiii. 145 At the ration-party's rendezvous.., our hearty Quartermaster Swain..was guarding..our issue of rum.
1918E. A. Mackintosh War 94 Punch concocted out of ration rum.
1897P. Warung Old Regime 81 The daily ration-scale permitted him only 16 ozs. uncooked maize-meal.
1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxxiv. 293 In some of the Western towns they find a convenient substitute even for ration sheep. 1914H. B. Smith Sheep & Wool Industry Australasia vi. 34 On a station the first sheep that are usually shorn are the ration sheep. These are the sheep that are to be killed for household and shearers' use. 1946F. Davison Dusty viii. 81 From then on he took him [the pup] out whenever he had to bring in the ration sheep for a killing. The ration sheep grazed in a small paddock near the homestead. Ibid. x. 105 The fence bounding the ration-sheep paddock.
1931W. S. Churchill World Crisis VI. xxi. 323 Out of 425,000 men comprising the entire manhood of the country, borne on the ration-strength of the Serbian army at the beginning of October, over 100,000 had been killed or wounded. 1965B. Sweet-Escott Baker St. Irregular vii. 201 The ration strength of A.F.H.Q. at this time was..something like that of a fighting division.
1892Missing Friends iii. 54 The most inferior goods in the market are called ration-tea and ration-sugar.
1938N. MacOwan Glorious Morning ii. ii. 59 There's food to get. Our ration tickets are only available today.
1830E. S. N. Campbell Milit. Dict. s.v. Ration, The Commanding Officer has the power by the Ration Warrant of 14th July, 1827, of diminishing..this allowance. ▪ II. ration, v.|ˈræʃən, formerly also ˈreɪʃən| [f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To supply (persons) with rations; to provision; to put on a fixed allowance.
1859Times 3 Mar. 7/6 The humane provision of rationing immigrants for the first 3 months. 1884Spectator 4 Oct. 1286/1 He was able by rationing the townsmen as well as his troops to make this supply last to the present time. 2. To divide (food, etc.) into rations; to serve out in fixed quantities.
1870Daily News 2 Nov., It will not be necessary to ration the bread until the 1st of January. 1873A. L. Perry Elem. Pol. Econ. (ed. 8) 78 The crew of a boat abandoned at sea, among whom the last biscuit had been rationed out. 3. intr. (for refl.). To obtain a supply of food.
1859R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 303 In the sparse cultivation,..they were rarely able to ration oftener than once a week. Hence ˈrationed ppl. a.
1886Century Mag. XXXII. 937 In preparation for the poorly rationed days. |