[f. as prec. + -MENT; also in med.L. apportionamentum and Fr. apportionnement.]
1. The action of distributing or allotting in proper proportion or suitable shares.
1628. Coke, On Litt., 149 b. The apportionment shall not be according to the quantity of the land, but according to the quality.
1807. W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., V. 210. By a wiser apportionment of the custom and excise duties.
1852. Grote, Greece, II. lxxviii. X. 316. For the apportionment of houses and lands among the citizens.
1861. Mill, Utilit., v. 85. The proper apportionment of punishment to offences.
2. The state or fact of being thus distributed.
1681. Nevile, Plato Rediv., 52. Wherever this apportionment of Lands came to be changed.
1858. (27 Oct.) Bright, Sp. (1876), 287. When the apportionment of the Members to the Constituencies approximates to a just arrangement.