allowance

Universal Words noun 1 an amount of money that is given to sb regularly or for a particular purpose: an allowance of $20 a day * a clothing / living / travel allowance * Do you get an allowance for clothing? seealsoATTENDANCEALLOWANCE 2 the amount of sth that is allowed in a particular situation: a baggage allowance of 20 kilos * Roman soldiers received a salt allowance, called salarium, the origin of the word salary. 3 (BrE) an amount of money that can be earned or received before you start paying tax: personal tax allowances 4 (especially AmE) = POCKETMONEY IDIOMS make allowance(s) for sth to consider sth, for example when you are making a decision or planning sth: The budget made allowance for inflation. * The plan makes no allowance for people working at different rates. make allowances (for sb) to allow sb to behave in a way that you would not usually accept, because of a problem or because there is a special reason: You have to make allowances for him because he's tired.