The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dotation \Do*ta"tion\, n. [LL. dotatio, fr. L. dotare to endow, fr. dos, dotis, dower: cf. F. dotation. See Dot dowry.]
The act of endowing, or bestowing a marriage portion on a woman.
Endowment; establishment of funds for support, as of a hospital or eleemosynary corporation.
--Blackstone.
Wiktionary
n. 1 The act of endowing, or bestowing a marriage portion on a woman. 2 endowment; establishment of funds for support, as of a hospital or eleemosynary corporation.
Usage examples of "dotation".
A curé and with still more reason, a canon, an archdeacon, a bishop, was not a passing stranger, endowed by the State, wearing a surplice, as little belonging to his age through his ministry as through his dress, and wholly confined to his spiritual functions: he managed the revenues of his dotation, he granted leases, made repairs, built, and interested himself in the probabilities of the crops, in the construction of a highway or canal, while his experiences in these matters were equal to those of any lay proprietor.