dole out
Hand over portions
To dole out is to distribute in small portions, often grudgingly or carefully: The government doled out emergency supplies, She doled out advice sparingly.
The phrase suggests measured, controlled giving rather than generosity—parceling something out bit by bit rather than all at once.
- apportionDivide into portions
- allocateDesignate for specific use
- allotDistribute by shares
- distributeDivide and deliver
- sharePortion given out
hand over · administer · dispense · deal in · sparingly · ration · gift · give · bestow · assign · endow · divvy · measure · spoon · split · carve up · donate · welfare
- dividing and givingdistribute, allocate, divide, give, share
- transfer verbsgive, pass, send, share, hand
- expressions about providinggive and take, hand over, give away, serve up, cater to
- give outshare, distribute, dispense, issue, fail
- portioningportion, divide, share, distribute, allocate
- separationseparate, sieving, straining, divide, filtration