1. [n]  the act of allowing; "He objected to the allowance of smoking in the diningroom"
2. [n]  a permissible difference; allowing freedom to move within limits
3. [n]  an amount added or deducted on the basis of qualifying circumstances; "an allowance for profit"
4. [n]  an amount allowed or granted (as during a given period); "travel allowance"; "my weekly allowance of two eggs"; "a child's allowance should not be too generous"
5. [n]  a sum granted as reimbursement for expenses
6. [n]  a reserve fund created by a charge against profits in order to provide for changes in the value of a company's assets
7. [v]  put on a fixed allowance, as of food

ALLOWANCE is a 9 letter word that starts with A.

1. \Al*low"ance\, n. [OF. alouance.]
   1. Approval; approbation. [Obs.] --Crabbe.
   2. The act of allowing, granting, conceding, or admitting;
      authorization; permission; sanction; tolerance.
            Without the king's will or the state's allowance.
                                                  --Shak.
   3. Acknowledgment.
            The censure of the which one must in your allowance
            o'erweigh a whole theater of others.  --Shak.
   4. License; indulgence. [Obs.] --Locke.
   5. That which is allowed; a share or portion allotted or
      granted; a sum granted as a reimbursement, a bounty, or as
      appropriate for any purpose; a stated quantity, as of food
      or drink; hence, a limited quantity of meat and drink,
      when provisions fall short.
            I can give the boy a handsome allowance.
                                                  --Thackeray.
   6. Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of
      mitigating circumstances; as, to make allowance for the
      inexperience of youth.
            After making the largest allowance for fraud.
                                                  --Macaulay.
   7. (com.) A customary deduction from the gross weight of
      goods, different in different countries, such as tare and
      tret.
   

2. \Al*low"ance\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Allowancing}.]
   [See {Allowance}, n.]
   To put upon a fixed allowance (esp. of provisions and drink);
   to supply in a fixed and limited quantity; as, the captain
   was obliged to allowance his crew; our provisions were
   allowanced.