*portion*

n. The quality of being apportioned or in proportion. [ Obs. & R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who apportions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. apportionnement, LL. apportionamentum. ] The act of apportioning; a dividing into just proportions or shares; a division or shares; a division and assignment, to each proprietor, of his just portion of an undivided right or property. A. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Equal share. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Myself will bear . . . coportion of your pack. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. dis- + proportion: cf. F. disproportion. ] 1. Want of proportion in form or quantity; lack of symmetry; as, the arm may be in disproportion to the body; the disproportion of the length of a building to its height. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Want of suitableness, adequacy, or due proportion to an end or use; unsuitableness; disparity; as, the disproportion of strength or means to an object. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Disproportioned p. pr. & vb. n. Disproportioning. ] To make unsuitable in quantity, form, or fitness to an end; to violate symmetry in; to mismatch; to join unfitly. [ 1913 Webster ]

To shape my legs of an unequal size;
To disproportion me in every part. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A degree of strength altogether disproportioned to the extent of its territory. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Disproportional; unsuitable in form, size, quantity, or adaptation; disproportionate; inadequate. -- Dis`pro*por"tion*a*ble*ness, n. Hammond. -- Dis`pro*por"tion*a*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not having due proportion to something else; not having proportion or symmetry of parts; unsuitable in form, quantity or value; inadequate; unequal; as, a disproportional limb constitutes deformity in the body; the studies of youth should not be disproportional to their understanding. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being disproportional. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a disproportional manner; unsuitably in form, quantity, or value; unequally. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not proportioned; unsymmetrical; unsuitable to something else in bulk, form, value, or extent; out of proportion; inadequate; as, in a perfect body none of the limbs are disproportionate; it is wisdom not to undertake a work disproportionate means. -- Dis`pro*por"tion*ate*ly, adv. -- Dis`pro*por"tion*ate*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. out of proportion in shape.
Syn. -- lopsided, one-sided. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. lacking pleasing shape. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Not proportionable. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not proportionate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To give wrong or unesthetic proportions to; to join without due proportion; as, the legs were misrpoportioned to the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An improper or unesthetic proportion. [ PJC ]

v. t. To make of too great proportion. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A part considered by itself, though not actually cut off or separated from the whole. [ 1913 Webster ]

These are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him! Job xxvi. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

Portions and parcels of the dreadful past. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A part assigned; allotment; share; fate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The lord of that servant . . . will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Luke xii. 46. [ 1913 Webster ]

Man's portion is to die and rise again. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. Luke xv. 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A wife's fortune; a dowry. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Portioned p. pr. & vb. n. Portioning. ] 1. To separate or divide into portions or shares; to parcel; to distribute. [ 1913 Webster ]

And portion to his tribes the wide domain. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To endow with a portion or inheritance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who portions. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl.) See Portionist, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A scholar at Merton College, Oxford, who has a certain academical allowance or portion; -- corrupted into postmaster. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl.) One of the incumbents of a benefice which has two or more rectors or vicars. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no portion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. proportio; pro before + portio part or share. See Portion. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The relation or adaptation of one portion to another, or to the whole, as respect magnitude, quantity, or degree; comparative relation; ratio; as, the proportion of the parts of a building, or of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

The image of Christ, made after his own proportion. Ridley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Formed in the best proportions of her sex. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Documents are authentic and facts are true precisely in proportion to the support which they afford to his theory. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Harmonic relation between parts, or between different things of the same kind; symmetrical arrangement or adjustment; symmetry; as, to be out of proportion. “Let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.” Rom. xii. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The portion one receives when a whole is distributed by a rule or principle; equal or proper share; lot. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let the women . . . do the same things in their proportions and capacities. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A part considered comparatively; a share. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Math.) (a) The equality or similarity of ratios, especially of geometrical ratios; or a relation among quantities such that the quotient of the first divided by the second is equal to that of the third divided by the fourth; -- called also geometrical proportion, in distinction from arithmetical proportion, or that in which the difference of the first and second is equal to the difference of the third and fourth. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Proportion in the mathematical sense differs from ratio. Ratio is the relation of two quantities of the same kind, as the ratio of 5 to 10, or the ratio of 8 to 16. Proportion is the sameness or likeness of two such relations. Thus, 5 to 10 as 8 to 16; that is, 5 bears the same relation to 10 as 8 does to 16. Hence, such numbers are said to be in proportion. Proportion is expressed by symbols thus: [ 1913 Webster ] a:b::c:d, or a:b = c:d, or a/b = c/d. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) The rule of three, in arithmetic, in which the three given terms, together with the one sought, are proportional. [ 1913 Webster ]

Continued proportion,
Inverse proportion, etc. See under Continued, Inverse, etc. --
Harmonical proportion or
Musical proportion, a relation of three or four quantities, such that the first is to the last as the difference between the first two is to the difference between the last two; thus, 2, 3, 6, are in harmonical proportion; for 2 is to 6 as 1 to 3. Thus, 24, 16, 12, 9, are harmonical, for 24:9::8:3. --
In proportion, according as; to the degree that. “In proportion as they are metaphysically true, they are morally and politically false.” Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Proportioned p. pr. & vb. n. Proportioning. ] [ Cf. F. proportionner. Cf. Proportionate, v. ] 1. To adjust in a suitable proportion, as one thing or one part to another; as, to proportion the size of a building to its height; to proportion our expenditures to our income. [ 1913 Webster ]

In the loss of an object we do not proportion our grief to the real value . . . but to the value our fancies set upon it. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To form with symmetry or suitableness, as the parts of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nature had proportioned her without any fault. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To divide into equal or just shares; to apportion. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being proportioned, or made proportional; also, proportional; proportionate. -- Pro*por"tion*a*ble*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

But eloquence may exist without a proportionable degree of wisdom. Burke. [1913 Webster]

Proportionable, which is no longer much favored, was of our [i. e., English writers'] own coining. Fitzed. Hall. [1913 Webster]

adv. Proportionally. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. proportionalis: cf. F. proportionnel. ] 1. Having a due proportion, or comparative relation; being in suitable proportion or degree; as, the parts of an edifice are proportional. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Relating to, or securing, proportion. Hutton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Math.) Constituting a proportion; having the same, or a constant, ratio; as, proportional quantities; momentum is proportional to quantity of matter. [ 1913 Webster ]

Proportional logarithms, logistic logarithms. See under Logistic. --
Proportional scale, a scale on which are marked parts proportional to the logarithms of the natural numbers; a logarithmic scale. --
Proportional
scales, compasses, dividers, etc. (Draughting), instruments used in making copies of drawings, or drawings of objects, on an enlarged or reduced scale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Math.) Any number or quantity in a proportion; as, a mean proportional. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chem.) The combining weight or equivalent of an element. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. proportionnalité. ] The state of being in proportion. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In proportion; in due degree; adapted relatively; as, all parts of the building are proportionally large. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. proportionatus. See Proportion. ] Adjusted to something else according to a proportion; proportional. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

What is proportionate to his transgression. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Proportionated p. pr. & vb. n. Proportionating. ] [ Cf. Proportion, v. ] To make proportional; to adjust according to a settled rate, or to due comparative relation; to proportion; as, to proportionate punishment to crimes. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a proportionate manner; with due proportion; proportionally. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being proportionate. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without proportion; unsymmetrical. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or process of dividing out proportionally. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To apportion again. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A second or a new apportionment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Overplus or excess of proportion. Sir K. Digby. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of inadequate or inferior proportions; small; poor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Scanty and underproportioned returns of civility. Collier. [ 1913 Webster ]