Wiktionary

allocate

English

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Etymology 1

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From Latin allocātus, perfect passive participle of Latin allocō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to”) + locō. Doublet of allow.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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allocate (third-person singular simple present allocates, present participle allocating, simple past and past participle allocated)

  1. To set aside for a purpose.
    Synonyms: appropriate, earmark; see also Thesaurus:set apart
    Please do not eat the meringue, as it is allocated for the dinner party tomorrow.
    • 2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 27:
      By March 1994, it had moved to Cardiff Canton, and was still allocated there when its nameplates were taken off in March 1997.
  2. To distribute according to a plan, generally followed by the adposition to.
    The bulk of K–12 education funds are allocated to school districts that in turn pay for the cost of operating schools.
  3. (computing) To reserve a portion of memory for use by a computer program.
    Antonyms: free, deallocate
    • 2011, José M. Garrido, Richard Schlesinger, Kenneth Hoganson, Principles of Modern Operating Systems, 2nd edition, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, →ISBN, page 264:
      The memory manager allocates memory to requesting processes until there is no more memory available or until there are no more processes waiting for memory.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English allocat(e) (“allocated”), originally used as the past participle of allocate, from Latin allocātus, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Adjective

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allocate (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete, of a pension or allowance) allocated

Etymology 3

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From Middle English allocate (the common first word of writs authorizing payment), from Medieval Latin allocātum, substantivized from the nominative neuter singular of allocātus, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Alternatively, from allocāte, the second-person plural imperative of allocō, compare English liberate (“a warrant for the payment of a pension, allowance, debt, etc.”). [1]

Noun

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allocate (plural allocates)

  2. (obsolete, UK, historical, law) A writ authorizing payment, allowance, grant.

References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “allocate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Italian

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Etymology 1

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Verb

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allocate

  1. inflection of allocare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

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Participle

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allocate f pl

  1. feminine plural of allocato

Anagrams

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Latin

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Verb

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allocāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of allocō
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