The silly old boy did the meting out (5)
I believe the answer is:
doled
'did the meting out' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'the silly old boy' is the wordplay.
'the silly' is an anagram indicator.
'boy' becomes 'ed' (short for edward).
'old' is an anagram of 'dol'.
'dol'+'ed'='DOLED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for doled that I've seen is " Given modest share".)
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