The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Appropriation \Ap*pro`pri*a"tion\, n. [L. appropriatio: cf. F.
   appropriation.]
   1. The act of setting apart or assigning to a particular use
      or person, or of taking to one's self, in exclusion of all
      others; application to a special use or purpose, as of a
      piece of ground for a park, or of money to carry out some
      object.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Anything, especially money, thus set apart.
      [1913 Webster]

            The Commons watched carefully over the
            appropriation.                        --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Law)
      (a) The severing or sequestering of a benefice to the
          perpetual use of a spiritual corporation. Blackstone.
      (b) The application of payment of money by a debtor to his
          creditor, to one of several debts which are due from
          the former to the latter. --Chitty.
          [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

appropriation
    n 1: money set aside (as by a legislature) for a specific
         purpose
    2: incorporation by joining or uniting [syn: annexation,
       appropriation]
    3: a deliberate act of acquisition of something, often without
       the permission of the owner; "the necessary funds were
       obtained by the government's appropriation of the company's
       operating unit"; "a person's appropriation of property
       belonging to another is dishonest"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

77 Moby Thesaurus words for "appropriation":
   abstraction, adoption, allocation, allotment, annexation,
   appointment, arrogation, assignment, assumption, autoplagiarism,
   boosting, borrowed plumes, borrowing, colonization, conquest,
   conversion, conveyance, copying, cribbing, derivation, deriving,
   earmarking, embezzlement, encroachment, enslavement, filching,
   fraud, graft, imitation, indent, infringement,
   infringement of copyright, invasion, liberation, lifting,
   literary piracy, mocking, occupation, pasticcio, pastiche,
   pilferage, pilfering, pinching, piracy, pirating, plagiarism,
   plagiarizing, plagiary, playing God, poaching, preemption,
   preoccupation, prepossession, requisition, scrounging, seizure,
   setting aside, shoplifting, simulation, snatching, sneak thievery,
   snitching, stealage, stealing, subjugation, swindle, swiping,
   tagging, takeover, taking, taking over, theft, thievery, thieving,
   trespass, trespassing, usurpation



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

APPROPRIATION, contracts. The application of the payment of a sum of money,
made by a debtor to his creditor, to one of several debts.
     2. When a voluntary payment is made, the law permits the debtor in the
first place, or, if he make no choice, then it allows the creditor to make
an appropriation of such payment to either of several debts which are due by
the debtor to the creditor. And if neither make an appropriation, then the
law makes the application of such payment. This rule does not apply to
payments made under compulsory process of law. 10 Pick. 129. It will be
proper to consider, 1, when the debtor may make the appropriation; 2, when
the creditor may make it; 3, when it will be made by law.
     3.-1. In general the appropriation may be made by the debtor, but
this must be done by his express declaration, or by circumstances from which
his intentions can be inferred. 2 C. M. & R. 723; 14 East, 239; 1 Tyrw. &
Gr. 137; 15 Wend. 19; 5 Taunt. 7 Wheat. 13; 2 Ear. & Gill, 159; S. C. 4 Gill
& Johns. 361; 1 Bibb, 334; 5 Watts, 544; 12 Pick. 463; 20 Pick. 441; 2
Bailey, 617; 4 Mass. 692; 17 Mass. 575. This appropriation, it seems, must
be notified to the creditor at the time; for an entry made by the debtor in
his own books, is not alone sufficient to determine the application of the
payment. 2 Vern. 606; 4 B. & C. 715. In some cases, in consequence of the
circumstances, the presumption will be that the payment was made on account
of one debt, in preference to another. 3 Caines, 14; 2 Stark. R. 101. And in
some cases the debtor has no right to make the appropriation, as, for
example, to apply 4 partial payment to the liquidation of the principal,
when interest is due. 1 Dall. 124; 1 H. & J. 754; 2 N. & M'C. 395; 1 Pick.
194; 17 Mass. 417.
     4.-2. When the debtor has neglected to make an appropriation, the
creditor may, in general, make it, but this is subject to some exceptions.
If, for example, the debtor owes a debt as executor, and one in his own
right, the creditor cannot appropriate a payment to the liquidation of the
former, because that may depend on the question of assets. 2 Str. 1194. See
1 M. & Malk. 40; 9 Cowen, 409; 2 Stark. R. 74; 1 C. & Mees. 33.
     5. Though it is not clearly settled in England whether a creditor is
bound to make the appropriation immediately, or at a subsequent time Ellis
on D. and C. 406-408 yet in the United States, the right to make the
application at any time has been recognized, and the creditor is not bound
to make an immediate election. 4 Cranch, 317; 9 Cowen, 420, 436. See 12 S. &
R. 301 2 B. & C. 65; 2 Verm. 283; 10 Conn. 176.
     6. When once made, the appropriation cannot be changed; and, rendering
an account, or bringing suit and declaring in a particular way, is evidence
of such appropriation. 1 Wash. 128 3 Green. 314; 12



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

APPROPRIATION, contracts. The application of the payment of a sum of money,
made by a debtor to his creditor, to one of several debts.
     2. When a voluntary payment is made, the law permits the debtor in the
first place, or, if he make no choice, then it allows the creditor to make
an appropriation of such payment to either of several debts which are due by
the debtor to the creditor. And if neither make an appropriation, then the
law makes the application of such payment. This rule does not apply to
payments made under compulsory process of law. 10 Pick. 129. It will be
proper to consider, 1, when the debtor may make the appropriation; 2, when
the creditor may make it; 3, when it will be made by law.
     3.-1. In general the appropriation may be made by the debtor, but this
must be done by his express declaration, or by circumstances from which his
intentions can be inferred. 2 C. M. & R. 723; 14 East, 239; 1 Tyrw. & Gr.
137; 15 Wend. 19; 5 Taunt. 7 Wheat. 13; 2 Ear. & Gill, 159; S. C. 4 Gill &
Johns. 361; 1 Bibb, 334; 5 Watts, 544; 12 Pick. 463; 20 Pick. 441; 2 Bailey,
617; 4 Mass. 692; 17 Mass. 575. This appropriation, it seems, must be
notified to the creditor at the time; for an entry made by the debtor in his
own books, is not alone sufficient to determine the application of the
payment. 2 Vern. 606; 4 B. & C. 715. In some cases, in consequence of the
circumstances, the presumption will be that the payment was made on account
of one debt, in preference to another. 3 Caines, 14; 2 Stark. R. 101. And in
some cases the debtor has no right to make the appropriation, as, for
example, to apply 4 partial payment to the liquidation of the principal,
when interest is due. 1 Dall. 124; 1 H. & J. 754; 2 N. & M'C. 395; 1 Pick.
194; 17 Mass. 417.
     4.-2. When the debtor has neglected to make an appropriation, the
creditor may, in general, make it, but this is subject to some exceptions.
If, for example, the debtor owes a debt as executor, and one in his own
right, the creditor cannot appropriate a payment to the liquidation of the
former, because that may depend on the question of assets. 2 Str. 1194. See
1 M. & Malk. 40; 9 Cowen, 409; 2 Stark. R. 74; 1 C. & Mees. 33.
     5. Though it is not clearly settled in England whether a creditor is
bound to make the appropriation immediately, or at a subsequent time Ellis
on D. and C. 406-408 yet in the United States, the right to make the
application at any time has been recognized, and the creditor is not bound
to make an immediate election. 4 Cranch, 317; 9 Cowen, 420, 436. See 12 S. &
R. 301 2 B. & C. 65; 2 Verm. 283; 10 Conn. 176.
     6. When once made, the appropriation cannot be changed; and, rendering
an account, or bringing suit and declaring in a particular way, is evidence
of such appropriation. 1 Wash. 128 3 Green. 314; 12 Shepl. 29; 2 N. H. Rep.
193; 2 Rawle, 316; 5 Watts, 544; 2 Wash. C. C. 47; 1 Gilp. 106; 12 S. & R.
305.
     7. When no application of the payment has been made by either party,
the law will appropriate it, in such a way as to do justice and equity to
both parties. 6 Cranch, 8, 28; 4 Mason, 333; 2 Sumn. 99, 112; 5 Mason, 82; 1
Nev. & Man. 746; 5 Bligh, N. S. 1; 11 Mass. 300;1 H. & J. 754; 2 Vern. 24; 1
Bibb. 334; 2 Dea. & Chit. 534; 5 Mason, 11. See 6 Cranch, 253, 264; 7
Cranch, 575; 1 Mer. 572, 605; Burge on Sur. 126-138; 1 M. & M. 40. See 1
Bouv Inst. n. 8314.   8. In Louisiana, by statutory enactment, Civ. Code,
art. 1159, et seq., it is provided that the debtor of several debts has a
right to declare, when he makes a payment, what debt he means to discharge.
The debtor of a debt which bears interest or produces rents, cannot, without
the consent of the creditor, impute to the reduction of the capital, any
payment he may make, when there is interest or rent due. When the debtor of
several debts has accepted a receipt, by which the creditor has imputed what
he has received to one of the debts especially, the debtor can no longer
require the imputation to be made to a different debt, unless there have
been fraud or surprise on the part of the creditor. When the receipt bears
no imputation, the payment must be imputed to the debt which the debtor had
at the time most interest in discharging of those that are equally due,
otherwise to the debt which has fallen due, though less burdensome than
those which are not yet payable. If the debts be of a like nature, the
imputation is made to the less burdensome; if all things are equal, it is
made proportionally." This is a translation of the Codo Napoleon, art. 1253-
1256 slightly altered. See Poth. Obl. n. 528 translated by Evans, and the
notes; Bac. Ab. Obligations, F; 6 Watts & Amer. Law Mag. 31; 1 Hare & Wall.
Sel. Dec. 123-158.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

APPROPRIATION, eccl. law. The setting apart an ecclesiastical benefice,
which is the general property of the church, to the perpetual and proper use
of some religious house, bishop or college, dean and chapter and the like.
Ayl. Pat. 86. See the form of an appropriation in Jacob's Introd. 411.