dole out
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
give or share something, often reluctantly or in small amounts
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
cho hoặc chia sẻ một thứ gì đó, thường là không sẵn lòng hoặc với số lượng nhỏ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: distribute like rations
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The charity doled out food to the homeless
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “dole out” mean?
give or share something, often reluctantly or in small amounts Literally: distribute like rations
Is “dole out” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.