parcel out

present singular third person parcels out · US participle present parceling out · UK participle present parcelling out · US participle past parceled out · US past parceled out · UK participle past parcelled out · UK past parcelled out

1. idiomaticTo divide into portions or chunks; to ration.

   It's a large job, but if we parcel it out among several people over several weeks, it shouldn't be too difficult.

2. To assign.

   Jem parceled out our roles: I was Mrs. Radley, and all I had to do was come out and sweep the porch. Dill was old Mr. Radley: he walked up and down the sidewalk and coughed when Jem spoke to him. Jem, naturally, was Boo: he went under the front steps and shrieked and howled from time to time.

   1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC