a grant (by a sovereign or a legislative body) of resources to maintain a dependent member of a ruling family; "bishoprics were received as appanages for the younger sons of great families"
any customary and rightful perquisite appropriate to your station in life; "for thousands of years the chair was an appanage of state and dignity rather than an article of ordinary use"
some situation or event that is thought about; "he kept drifting off the topic"; "he had been thinking about the subject for several years"; "it is a matter for the police"