All 5 Uses

ration
in
The Souls of Black Folk
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The Secretary of War could issue rations, clothing, and fuel to the destitute, and all abandoned property was placed in the hands of the Bureau for eventual lease and sale to ex-slaves in forty-acre parcels.†
Chpt 2
On May 19 the new government—for a government it really was—issued its constitution; commissioners were to be appointed in each of the seceded states, who were to take charge of "all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen," and all relief and rations were to be given by their consent alone.†
Chpt 2
In fifty months twenty-one million free rations were distributed at a cost of over four million dollars.†
Chpt 2 *
If Sam seems a favorable subject, he and the merchant go to a lawyer, and Sam executes a chattel mortgage on his mule and wagon in return for seed and a week's rations.†
Chpt 8
Every Saturday, or at longer intervals, Sam calls upon the merchant for his "rations"; a family of five usually gets about thirty pounds of fat side-pork and a couple of bushels of cornmeal a month.†
Chpt 8

Definitions:

(1) (ration)
a fixed share of something, especially scarce goods like food or fuel; or to limit and distribute something in fixed shares
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)