to portion out
1
3.4
- phrasal verb
- /ˈpɔrʃən aʊt/
:
racionar
- And they start portioning out their foods, right?
- portion out our food
And they start portioning out their foods, right?
- And they start portioning out their foods, right?
Examples
-
Even then it was a crush to obtain one, because otherwise their twenty-four hour ration was portioned out, sometimes boiling hot soup, into their bare hands.
Fiction book (1996) -
Land is owned collectively and is portioned out by the Ogboni society to married men or single female heads of households according to the number of family members.
Academic text (1991) -
What if you have them portion out what they collect tonight to send away, too?
Blog text (29) -
There is much talk about where to lodge them and how to portion out our food.
Fiction book (2000) -
I like small bowls because they help me portion out the perfect amount.
Blog text (1) -
"Charles portioned out my share of tools to carry, took my gloved hand, and we walked away from the tractor.
Fiction book (1993) -
Make Halloween healthier (and longer-lasting) by portioning out the candy.
Blog text (12) -
Before the party, make sure to portion out the appetizers so that everyone gets a fair share.
-
She decided to portion out the pasta into small containers for lunches throughout the week.
-
At the meeting, they will portion out the resources to each department according to their needs.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To let other people use or have part of something
680
1.1
To split something into parts or groups
513
1.3
To break something into two or more parts
199
1.5
To give out cards or other things to people
165
1.8
To give something to people in a group
143
2.3
To hand things to several people
87
2.0
Give things to several people or places
68
2.7
To give things to people in a group, like papers or drinks
47
2.6
To divide something into smaller parts
34
4.0
To give small amounts of something to several people over time
32
2.1
Hand something to each person in a group
28
3.4
To give out things to several people, often food or advice
16
2.9
Parts are given to people, often according to a plan
15
7.3
To share something among a group of people
14
5.8
To divide something into parts to share between people
10
4.2
Share things or money between several people
8
7.0
To divide something and give parts to different people or groups
6
5.3
To divide something into parts to give out
4
8.1
To give something in set amounts, for example punishments or praise
3
3.2
To give things to several people, often one by one, like cards
3
3.0
To give parts of something to different people
3
4.8
To divide something into parts and give each part to different people
1
3.0
Divided into parts and given to people, usually equally
1
4.2
To give people small set amounts of things like food or water when supplies are low
Divided and given out to people or groups according to a plan
Split into parts and given out, often equally
Antonyms
How Much
87
2.0
92
4.5
1
3.4
3
4.8
165
1.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
portion + out
The meaning 'to divide something into parts and distribute' is directly and transparently derived from 'portion' (to apportion) combined with the particle 'out' which adds a distributional/outward sense. This verb+particle composition is a regular, cross-linguistic pattern in English, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will very likely infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Portion out comes from the picture of cutting a big thing into smaller portions and handing them out to people. So portion out means 'to divide something into parts and give those parts to different people'.