portion
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɔɹʃən/
ipa: /ˈpɔːʃən/
note: Scotland, Ireland, other varieties without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /ˈpoəɹʃən/
note: Scotland, Ireland, other varieties without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /ˈpoːɹʃən/
note: Scotland, Ireland, other varieties without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /ˈpoɹʃən/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)ʃən
Forms: form: portions
Etymology: From Middle English porcioun, borrowed from Old French porcion, from Latin portio (“a share, part, portion, relation, proportion”), akin to pars (“part”); see part. Compare proportion.
Senses: glosses: An allocated amount.
synonyms: word: part
word: piece
word: bit
word: chip
word: chunk
word: clip
word: crumb
word: crumbling
word: cutting
word: flake
word: fleak
word: fragment
word: hunk
word: lump
word: mammock
word: ort
word: piece
word: piecemeal
word: portion
word: scrap
word: scraplet
word: slice
word: snead
word: snippet
word: steck
glosses: That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.
examples: text: The Lord of that ſeruant […] will appoint him his portion with the vnbeleeuers.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 12:46, columns 2–1:
text: Man's portion is to die and rise again.
ref: 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC:
text: "Everywhere the same!" exclaimed Francesca, as she resumed her seat—"the same human misery—the same human portion!...
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 146:
synonyms: word: doom
word: fortune
word: chance
word: destin
word: destiny
word: doom
word: fatality
word: fate
word: foredoom
word: foreordination
word: fortune
word: kismet
word: lot
word: orlay
word: portion
word: predestination
word: predestiny
word: preordination
word: qadar
word: weird
word: wyrd
glosses: One's fate; lot.
examples: text: Father, giue me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 15:12, column 1:
text: O! yearning heart! I did inherit
Thy withering portion with the fame,
The searing glory which hath shone
Amid the jewels of my throne,
Halo of Hell!
ref: 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:
glosses: The part of an estate given or falling to a child or heir; an inheritance.
examples: text: Commend me to her, and to piece her portion / Tender her this.
ref: 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson; […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act V, scene iv, page 85:
text: I took part of a small house in the Old Jewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate-street, with whom I received four hundred pounds for a portion.
ref: 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):
glosses: A wife's fortune; a dowry.
Derived terms: marriage-portion
midportion
multiportion
outportion
portion control
portionist
portionless
portionwise
preportion
reportion
scrimption
subportion
test portion
underportion
Related terms: proportion
helping
serving