ration

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ration/ˈraʃn/

▶noun

• 1 a fixed amount of a commodity officially allowed to each person during a time of shortage, as in wartime.

• 2 (rations) an amount of food supplied on a regular basis to members of the armed forces during a war.

• 3 (rations) food; provisions.

▶verb

• 1 limit the supply of (a commodity) to fixed rations.

• 2 limit the amount of a commodity available to (someone).

– origin C18: from Fr., from L. ratio(n-) ‘reckoning, ratio’.