allotropy 
guise: see trope.'] The property which certain 
chemical elements have of existing in two or 
more distinct forms, each having certain char- 
acteristics peculiar to itself. The element carhun, 
for instance, exists nearly pure in three totally distinct 
forms the diamond, graphite, and charcoal. 
allottable (a-lot'a-bl),- [< allot + -able.'} Ca- 
pable of being allotted. 
allottee (al-o-te'), . [< allot + -ee*.'] One to 
whom something is allotted, as a plot of ground, 
shares of stock, or the like. 
The allotment of gardens, which yield a partial support 
to the allottee, is another means of cheap labor. Mayhew. 
allotter (a-lot'er), n. One who allots or appor- 
tions. If. E. I). 
allotteryt (a-lot'e-ri), n. [< allot + -ery, after 
lottery, q. v.] Allotment; what is allotted or 
assigned to use. 
Oive me the poor allottenj my father left me by testa- 
ment. Shak., As you Like it, i. 1. 
all-over (al-6'ver), n. [See all over, under all, 
adv.] The trade-name of a gilt button washed 
or plated on both the upper and under sides, 
as distinguished from a top, which is plated or 
washed on the upper side only. De Colange. 
all-overish (al-6'ver-ish), a. [< all over + -ish*.'] 
Affecting the whole system ; extending all over 
one : as, an all-overish feeling of sickness. [Col- 
loq.] 
all-overishness (al-6'ver-ish-nes), n. A perva- 
sive feeling of uneasiness produced by appre- 
hension or indisposition; general discomfort; 
malaise. [Colloq.] 
Our sense of all-overishness when our friend approaches 
the edge of a precipice is clearly only a step or two re- 
moved from the apprehension or the actual representa- 
tion of a fall. Mind, IX. 421. 
allow 1 (a-lou'), v. [< ME. alowen, alouen, < OF. 
alouer, aloer, aluer, aloier, assign, allot, place 
(mod. F. allotter, assign, allow, grant), < ML. 
allocare, assign, etc. : see allocate. Already in 
OF. confused in sense and form with another 
verb, the source of allow 2 , approve, the two 
being regarded in E. as one word ; the separa- 
tion is merely formal.] I. trans. 1. To grant, 
give, or yield; assign; afford: as, to allow a 
free passage. 
I am told the gardner is annually alowed 2000 scudi for 
the keeping of it. Etxlyn, Diary, Nov. 29, 1644. 
Envy ought, in strict truth, to have no place whatever 
allowed it in the heart of man. Cotton, Lacon. 
2. To admit ; concede ; confess ; own ; acknow- 
ledge: as, to allow the right of private judg- 
ment; he allowed that he was wrong; he allowed 
it might be so. 
The pow'r of music all our hearts allow. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 382. 
The ruiu'd spendthrift, now no longer proud, 
Claimed kindred there, and had his claims allowed. 
Goldsmith, Des. Vll. 
They'll not allow our friend Miss Vermillion to be hand- 
some. Sheridan, School for Scandal, ii. 2. 
A bright morning so early in the year, she allowed, 
would generally turn to rain. 
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, p. 61. 
3. To abate or deduct; take into account ; set 
apart: as, to allow so much for loss; to allow 
a sum for tare or leakage. 
The schedule of tares annexed is the tare to be allowed 
in all cases where the invoice tare is not adopted. 
Circ. of See. of If. S. Treasury, July 14, 1862. 
4. To grant permission to ; permit : as, to allow 
a son to be absent. 
No person was allowed to open a trade or to commence 
a manufacture . . . unless he had first served his appren- 
ticeship. Froude, Sketches, p. 170. 
Farewell, for longer speech is not attme'd. 
M. Arnold, Balder Dead. 
5f. To grant special license or indulgence to. 
There is no slander in an allowed fool. Shak., T. }J., 1. 5. 
6f. To invest ; intrust. 
Thou shalt be met with thanks, 
Allow'd with absolute power. 
Shak., T. of A., v. 2. 
7. To assert, declare, say; or, of mental asser- 
tion, to mean, purpose, intend, or, simply, think : 
the concessive sense presented assertively. 
[Colloq., United States.] 
He said he allowed to work it out. 
Howells, Suburban Sketches, p. 58. 
" I 'low'd maybe dat I might ax yo' fur ter butt 'gin de 
tree, and shake 'em down, Sis Cow," sez Brer Rabbit, 
sezee. J. C. Harris, Uncle Remus, p. 48. 
Brer Tarrypin he say wich he wern't gwine nowhar 
skasely. Den Brer Rabbit he 'low he wuz on his way to 
Miss Meadows. J . C. Harris, Uncle Remus, p. 50. 
= Syn. Allow, Permit, Consent to, Sanction, Suffer, Tol- 
erate. Allow and permit are often used synonymously; but 
permit strictly denotes a formal or implied assent ; allow, 
the absence of an intent, or even only of an attempt, to 
151 
hinder. Consent to is formally to permit that which one 
has the power and generally some disposition to prevent ; 
it implies the assumption of responsibility for that which 
is thus allowed. Solution has a secondary sense of per- 
mitting with expressed or implied approbation : as, I can- 
not sanction such a course. Su/er is still more passive 
or reluctant than allow, and may imply that one does not 
prevent something, though it is contrary to one's feelings, 
Judgment, or sense of right. To tolerate is to bear with 
something unpleasant : as, I would not tolerate such im- 
pertinence. Many things are tolerated, or iu/ered, or even 
Hlliund, that are not permitted, and many are permitted 
that are not really consented to, much less sanctioned. 
And when the Queen petition'd for his leave 
To see the hunt, allow 'd it easily. 
Tennyson, Oeraint. 
For crimes are but permitted, not decreed. 
Dryden, Cym. and Iph., 1. 475. 
Scourge the bad revolting stars, 
That have consented unto Henry's death ! 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 1. 
Constantine certainly sanctioned what are called pious 
uses. //. Binney, Vidal versus City of Phila. 
Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now : 
for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. 
Mat. ill. 15. 
They cannot understand the complex feeling that finds 
relief in sarcasm and allegory, that tolerates the frivolous 
and the vain as an ironic reading of the lesson of life. 
Shorthouxe, Little Schoolmaster Mark, p. 48. 
II. intrans. 1. To make abatement, conces- 
sion, or provision : followed by for : as, to al- 
low for the tare. 
Allowing still for the different ways of making it. 
Addison. 
2. To permit; admit: with of: as, "of this 
allow," Shak., W. T., iv. (cho.). 
Thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras, ere I will 
allow o/thy wits. Shak., T. N., iv. 2. 
The Court, which is the best and surest judge of writ- 
ing, has generally allowed of verse ; and in the town it has 
found favourers of wit and quality. 
Dryden, Ded. of Ess. on Dram. Poesy. 
allow 2 t (a-lou'), v. t. [< ME. alouen, alowen, < 
OF. alouer, praise, later alloiter, < L. allaudare, 
adlaudare, praise, < ad, to, + landare, praise: 
see laud, v. ; cf. OF. loer, loner, approve, < L. 
laudare. Early confused in sense and form 
with allow 1 , q. v. Doublet, allaud.~\ To praise 
or commend ; approve, justify, or sanction. 
Ye allow the deeds of your fathers. Luke xi. 48. 
That same framing of his stile, to an old rustick lan- 
guage, I dare not alowe. Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie. 
If your grace allow me for a preacher, I would desire 
your grace to give me leave to discharge my conscience. 
Latituer, 3d Serm. bef. Edw. VI. 
allowable 1 (a-lou'a-bl), a. [< allow* + -able, 
after F. allowable, '(. ML. allocabilw, < allocare : 
see allocate.'] Proper to be or capable of being 
allowed or permitted; not forbidden; legiti- 
mate ; permissible : as, a certain degree of free- 
dom is allowable among friends. 
In actions of this sort, the light of nature alone may 
discover that which is in the sight of God allowable. 
Hooker. 
allowable 2 ! (a-lou'a-bl), a. [< ME. allowable, 
alowable, < alowen, praise : see allow 2 and -able. 
Mixed with allowable*."] Praiseworthy; lauda- 
ble ; worthy of sanction or approval ; satisfac- 
tory; acceptable. 
Custom had made it not only excusable but allowable. 
Bp. Sanderson, Sermons, Ad. Mag., ii. 8. (JT. E. D.) 
allowableneSS (a-lou'a-bl-nes), n. The quality 
of being allowable; exemption from prohibi- 
tion ; freedom from impropriety ; lawfulness. 
I cannot think myself engaged ... to discourse of lot*, 
as to their nature, use, and allowableness ; and that not 
only in matters of moment and business, but also of re- 
creation. South, Sermons, I. viii. 
allowably (a-lou'a-bli), adv. In an allowable 
manner; with propriety. 
allowance 1 (a-lou'ans), . [< ME. alouance. 
alowans, < OF. alouance, < alouer: see allow* 
and -ance.] 1. Sanction; approval; tolerance: 
as, the allowance of slavery. 
See what allowance vice finds in the respectable and 
well-conditioned class. Emerson, Conduct of Life. 
2. Admission or acceptance; a conceding or 
granting : as, the allowance of a claim. 
Or what if I were to allow would it not be a singular 
allowance! that our furniture should be more complex 
than the Arab's in proportion as we are morally and in- 
tellectually his superior? Thoreau, Walden, p. 40. 
3. Allotment; apportionment; a definite sum 
or quantity set apart or granted, such as ali- 
mony : as, an allowance by a husband to a wife ; 
an allowance of grog or tobacco to a seaman ; 
an allowance of pocket-money. 
And his [Jehoiachin's] allowance was a continual allow- 
ance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all 
the days of his life. 2 Ki. xxv. 30. 
4. Specifically, in law, an extra sum awarded 
besides regular costs to the successful party 
alloy 
in a difficult case. 5. A deduction: as, the 
allowances made in commerce for tare, break- 
ages, etc. 6. Aii abatement or addition on 
account of some extenuating, qualifying, en- 
hancing, or other circumstance: as, to make 
allowances for a person's youth or inexperience ; 
allowance for difference of time; allowance for 
shrinkage of values, etc. 
But even these monstrosities are interesting and in- 
structive; nay, many of them, if we can but make allow- 
ance for different ways of thought and language, contain 
germs of truth and rays of light. 
Max Miitter, India, p. 106. 
The saints and demi-gods whom history worships we 
are constrained to accept with a grain of allowance. 
Ewterson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 268. 
7. In minting, a permissible deviation in the 
fineness and weight of coins, owing to the dif- 
ficulty of securing exact conformity to the 
standard prescribed by law. In the United States 
the allowance for the fineness of gold coins is .001, and for 
weight a quarter of a grain to each one-dollar piece ; in 
silver coins the allowance for fineness is .003, and for weight 
H grains to each coin. In the gold coinage of France the 
allowance for both fineness and weight is .002, and of Eng- 
land .002 for fineness and two grains in each sovereign for 
weight. Also called remedy and tolerance (which see). 
Barrack allowance. See barrack. Compassionate 
allowance. See compassionate. 
allowance 1 (a-lou'ans), v. t. ; pret. and pp. al- 
lowanced, ppr. allowancing. [< allowance*, n.] 
To put upon allowance ; limit to a certain fixed 
periodic amount of anything : as, to allowance 
a spendthrift; distress compelled the captain 
of the ship to allowance his crew. 
You have had as much as you can eat, you're asked 
if you want any more, and you answer "No." Then don't 
you ever go and say you were allowanced, mind that. 
Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, xxxvi. 
allowance 2 (a-lou'ans), n. [< ME. allowaunce, 
< OF. alouance, < alouer: see allow 2 and -ance. 
Mixed with allowance*.'] If. Praise; commen- 
dation. 
It is not the allowance or applause of men that I seek. 
Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, p. 259. 
2. Sanction ; approbation ; authorization : as, a 
judge's allowance of a compromise or settle- 
ment of a case by the parties interested. 
You sent a large commission 
To Gregory de Cassalis to conclude, 
Without the king's will, or the state's allowance, 
A league between his highness and Ferrara. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. 
3f. Reputation. 
His bark is stoutly timber'd, and his pilot 
Of very expert and approv'd allowance. 
Shak., Othello, ii. 1. 
allowedly (a-lou'ed-li), adv. Admittedly. 
Lord Lyttleton is allowedly the author of these dialogues. 
She/atone, Works, III. cii. 
allower (a-lou'er), n. One who allows, per- 
mits, grants, or authorizes. 
alloxan (a-lok'san), n. [< all(antoin) + ox(alic) 
+ -an : so named because it contains the ele- 
ments of allantoin and oxalic acid.] One of 
the products (C 4 H 2 N 2 O4) of the decomposi- 
tion of uric acid by nitric acid. When treated with 
alkalis it produces alloxanic acid. In contact with am- 
monia it produces purpurate of ammonia, identical with 
murexid, which with various mordants produces reds and 
purples on silk and wool. This was much used in 1855 
and 1856, but was soon superseded by aniline colors. 
alloxanate (a-lok'sa-nat), re. [< alloxanic + 
-ate*.'} A salt formed by the union of alloxanic 
acid and a base. 
alloxanic (al-ok-san'ik), a. [< allojran + -ic.] 
Pertaining to or produced from alloxan: as, 
alloxanic acid. Alloxanic acid, a strong crystalline 
dibasic acid produced by the action of alkalis on alloxan. 
On boiling, its salts decompose into urea and mesoxalatcs. 
alloxantin (al-ok-san'tin), n. [< alloxan(t-) + 
-in 2 .] A white crystalline substance (C 8 H 4 N 4 O 7 
+ 3H 2 O) obtained when alloxan is brought into 
contact with reducing agents. Oxidizing agents 
reconvert it into alloxan. Also called uroxin. 
alloy (a-loi'), v. [< F. aloyer, earlier allayer, 
< OF. dleier, alter, < L. alligare, combine: see 
allay 2 (of which alloy is the recent form, based 
on mod. F.) and ally*. The sense has been 
influenced by the erroneous etymology from F. 
d, lot: see alloy, .] I. trans. 1. To mix (two 
or more metals) so as to form a compound, with- 
out reference to the relative value of the metals 
mixed. 
When we wish to alloy three or more metals, we often 
experience difficulties, either because one of the metals is 
more oxidisable, ordenser, or more fusible than the others, 
or because there is no direct affinity between two of the 
metals. Ure, Diet., I. 92. 
2. To reduce to a desired standard or quality by 
mixing with a less valuable metal : as, to alloy 
gold or silver with copper. 3. Figuratively, 
to debase or reduce in character or condition by 
