Por"tion , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portioned (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Portioning.]
1. To separate or divide into portions or shares; to parcel; to distribute.
And portion to his tribes the wide domain.
Pope. 2. To endow with
a portion or inheritance.
Him portioned maids, apprenticed
orphans, blest.
Pope.
Por"tion (?), n. [F., from L.
portio, akin to
pars, partis, a part. See Part, n.]
1. That which is divided off or separated, as a
part from a
whole; a separated part of anything.
2. A part considered by itself, though not actually cut off or separated from the whole.
These are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him!
Job xxvi.
14. Portions and parcels
of the dreadful past.
Tennyson. 3. A part assigned; allotment; share; fate.
The lord of that servant . . . will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
Luke xii. 46. Man's portion is to die and rise again.
Keble. 4. The part of an estate given to a child or heir, or descending to him by law, and distributed to him in the settlement of the estate; an inheritance.
Give me the portion of goods that
falleth to me.
Luke xv. 12. 5. A wife's fortune; a dowry. Shak.
Syn. -- Division; share; parcel; quantity; allotment; dividend. -- Portion, Part. Part is generic, having a simple reference to some whole. Portion has the additional idea of such
a division as bears reference to an individual, or is allotted to some object; as, a portion of one's time; a portion of Scripture.
Hear it pronounced