Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Business
1.
That which busies one, or that which engages the time, attention, or labor of any one, as his principal concern or interest, whether for a longer or shorter time; constant employment; regular occupation;
as, the
. business
of life; business
before pleasureWist ye not that I must be about my Father’s
business
? Luke ii. 49.
2.
Any particular occupation or employment engaged in for livelihood or gain, as agriculture, trade, art, or a profession.
“The business of instruction.” Prescott.
3.
Financial dealings; buying and selling; traffic in general; mercantile transactions.
It seldom happens that men of a studious turn acquire any degree of reputation for their knowledge of
business
. Bp. Popteus.
4.
That which one has to do or should do; special service, duty, or mission.
The daughter of the King of France,
On serious
Importunes personal conference.
On serious
business
, craving quick despatch,Importunes personal conference.
Shakespeare
What
business
has the tortoise among the clouds? L'Estrange.
5.
Affair; concern; matter; – used in an indefinite sense, and modified by the connected words.
It was a gentle
The action of good women.
business
, and becomingThe action of good women.
Shakespeare
Bestow
Your needful counsel to our
Your needful counsel to our
business
. Shakespeare
6.
(Drama)
The position, distribution, and order of persons and properties on the stage of a theater, as determined by the stage manager in rehearsal.
7.
Care; anxiety; diligence.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
To do one's business
, to ruin one.
[Colloq.]
Wycherley.
– To make (a thing) one's business
, to occupy one's self with a thing as a special charge or duty.
[Colloq.]
– To mean business
, to be earnest.
[Colloq.]
Syn. – Affairs; concern; transaction; matter; engagement; employment; calling; occupation; trade; profession; vocation; office; duty.
Webster 1828 Edition
Business
BUSINESS
,Noun.
1.
Affairs; concerns; as, a man leaves his business in an unsettled state.2.
The subject of employment; that which engages the care and attention.You are so much the business of our souls.
3.
Serious engagement; important occupation,in distinction from trivial affairs.It should be the main business of life to serve God, and obey his commands.
4.
Concern; right of action or interposing.'What business has a man with the disputes of others?'
5.
A point; a matter of question; something to be examined or considered.Fitness to govern is a perplexed business.
6.
Something to be done; employment of importance to one's interest, opposed to amusement; as, we have no business in town.They were far from the Zidonians and had no business with any one.
7.
Duty, or employment that duty enjoins. A lawyer's business is to do justice to his clients.To do the business for a man, is to kill, destroy or ruin him.
Definition 2024
business
business
English
Noun
business (countable and uncountable, plural businesses)
- (countable) A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.
- I was left my father's business.
- 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
- The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.
- (countable) A person's occupation, work, or trade.
- He is in the motor and insurance businesses.
- I'm going to Las Vegas on business.
- (uncountable) Commercial, industrial, or professional activity.
- He's such a poor cook, I can't believe he's still in business!
- We do business all over the world.
- (uncountable) The volume or amount of commercial trade.
- Business has been slow lately.
- They did nearly a million dollars of business over the long weekend.
- 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
- In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%. That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business, but on annoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.
- (uncountable) One's dealings; patronage.
- I shall take my business elsewhere.
- (uncountable) Private commercial interests taken collectively.
- This proposal will satisfy both business and labor.
- 2013 August 10, Schumpeter, “Cronies and capitols”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
- Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.
- (uncountable) The management of commercial enterprises, or the study of such management.
- I studied business at Harvard.
- (countable) A particular situation or activity.
- This UFO stuff is a mighty strange business.
- (countable) An objective or a matter needing to be dealt with.
- Our principal business here is to get drunk.
- Let's get down to business.
- 1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Chapter I: Of Sense”, in LeviathanWikisource:
- To know the naturall cause of Sense, is not very necessary to the business now in hand; and I have els-where written of the same at large.
- (uncountable) Something involving one personally.
- That's none of your business.
- (uncountable, parliamentary procedure) Matters that come before a body for deliberation or action.
- If that concludes the announcements, we'll move on to new business.
- (travel, uncountable) Business class, the class of seating provided by airlines between first class and coach.
- (acting) Action carried out with a prop or piece of clothing, usually away from the focus of the scene.
- 1983, Peter Thomson, Shakespeare's Theatre, ISBN 0710203829, page 155:
- The business with the hat is a fine example of the difficulty of distinguishing between 'natural' and 'formal' acting.
-
- (countable, rare) The collective noun for a group of ferrets.
- 2004, Dave Duncan, The Jaguar Knights: A Chronicle of the King's Blades, ISBN 0060555114, page 252:
- I'm sure his goons will go through the ship like a business of ferrets, and they'll want to look in our baggage.
-
- (uncountable, slang, Britain) Something very good; top quality. (possibly from "the bee's knees")
- These new phones are the business!
- (slang, uncountable) Excrement, particularly that of a non-human animal.
- Your ferret left his business all over the floor.
- As the cart went by, its horse lifted its tail and did its business.
Derived terms
Terms derived from business (noun)
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Translations
commercial enterprise or establishment
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occupation, work or trade of a person
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commercial, industrial or professional activity
volume or amount of commercial trade
private commercial interests taken collectively
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particular situation or activity
objective or a matter needing to be dealt with
something involving one personally
action carried out with a prop or piece of clothing
Adjective
business
- Of, to, pertaining to or utilized for purposes of conducting trade, commerce, governance, advocacy or other professional purposes.
- 1897, Reform Club (New York, N.Y.) Sound Currency Committee, Sound currency, Volumes 4-5, page cclii,
- They are solely business instruments. Every man's relation to them is purely a business relation. His use of them is purely a business use.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 10, in The China Governess:
- With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.
- 1996, Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, American Law Reports: Annotations and Cases, Volume 35, page 432,
- […] the fact that the injured party came to the insured premises for solely business purposes precluded any reliance on the non-business pursuits exception (§ 1 1 2[b]).
- 2003, Marvin Snider, Compatibility Breeds Success: How to Manage Your Relationship with Your Business Partner, page 298,
- Both of these partnerships have to cope with these dual issues in a more complicated way than is the case in solely business partnerships.
- "Please do not use this phone for personal calls; it is a business phone."
- 1897, Reform Club (New York, N.Y.) Sound Currency Committee, Sound currency, Volumes 4-5, page cclii,
- Professional, businesslike, having concern for good business practice.
- 1889, The Clothier and furnisher, Volume 19, page 38,
- He is thoroughly business, but has the happy faculty of transacting it in a genial and courteous manner.
- 1909, La Salle Extension University, Business Administration: Business Practice, page 77,
- […] and the transaction carried through in a thoroughly business manner.
- 1927, Making of America Project, Harper's Magazine, Volume 154, page 502,
- Sometimes this very subtle contrast becomes only too visible, as when in wartime Jewish business men were almost lynched because they were thoroughly business men and worked for profit.
- 2009, Frank Channing Haddock, Business Power: Supreme Business Laws and Maxims that Win Wealth, page 231,
- The moral is evident: do not invest in schemes promising enormous and quick returns unless you have investigated them in a thoroughly business manner.
- 1889, The Clothier and furnisher, Volume 19, page 38,
- Supporting business, conducive to the conduct of business.
- 1867, Edmund Hodgson Yates (editor), Amiens, in Tinsley's Magazine, page 430,
- Amiens is a thoroughly business town, the business being chiefly with the flax-works.
- 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
- According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.
- 1867, Edmund Hodgson Yates (editor), Amiens, in Tinsley's Magazine, page 430,
See also
- Appendix: Animals
- Appendix:English collective nouns
Statistics
Most common English words before 1923: lost · human · kept · #382: business · mean · manner · following
Finnish
Etymology
Borrowing from English business.
Pronunciation
Noun
business
- Alternative spelling of bisnes
Declension
This spelling does not fit nicely into Finnish declension system and is therefore seldom used, and mainly in nominative singular.
Pronunciation "bisnes":
Declension of business (type vastaus)
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Pronunciation "business":
Declension of business (type vastaus)
|
Usage notes
It may be advisable to avoid using this term in writing.
Synonyms
- See Synonyms-section under bisnes
French
Etymology
Borrowing from English business.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /biz.nɛs/
- IPA(key): /bɪz.nɪs/ (Québec)
Noun
business m (plural business)
Italian
Etymology
Borrowing from English business.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbiznis/
Noun
business m (invariable)
- business (commercial enterprise)