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I found the following sentence in the novel I'm reading

「これが旅に出る最後の好機だと思っている。これまでももちろん旅に出ようと思えば資金に **当てをつける** ことはできた。だが、踏ん切りがつかなかった。」

What does 「当てをつける」mean here? Does it mean the speaker found a place to spend
or make money? 当て seems to have definitions of both 頼り and 目当て, so I'm pretty
confused about what the speaker is trying to say. From context, the speaker
seems to be in need of money, but I'm still unsure what is being meant here.
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2021-03-04T19:19:12.613
84448
2021-03-05T17:39:34.063
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question
usage definitions
Meaning of 当てをつける
I believe they are just saying that they could have allocated the funds to go
on a trip if they wanted but they couldn't come to a decision.

The third meaning from here:
<https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%BD%93%E3%81%A6%E4%BB%98%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B/>
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2021-03-05T11:32:55.793
84461
2021-03-05T11:32:55.793
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answer
I also asked this question on Lang-8 and these are the (translated and
paraphrased) answers I received. 当て here means the [second and third
definitions here](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%BD%93%E3%81%A6/). It
is somewhat similar to 見込み or 見通し. One of the comments specifically wrote the
following:

> 「当てをつける」＝「見当をつける」＝「見込みをつける」  
>  見込み ≒ prospect, likelihood, possibility  
>  Therefore, the meaning would be "He was possibly able to get the trip
> cost."

So, it was possible for him to obtain the funds(資金), but he did not take the
chance. Another commenter said the following:

> 当てをつけるの 「を」がない、「あてつけ」になると、違う意味になるので注意です。

当てつける is a different word, which means to "insinuate" and has a negative
nuance.
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2021-03-05T17:39:34.063
84464
2021-03-05T17:39:34.063
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answer