business
English
Etymology
From Middle English busines, bisynes, from Old English bisiġnes (“business, busyness”), equivalent to busy + -ness. Compare also busyness.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈbɪzˌnəs/ or /ˈbɪzˌnɪs/, X-SAMPA: /"bIzn@s/, /"bIznIs/
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Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: busi‧ness
Noun
business (countable and uncountable; plural businesses)
- (countable) A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.
- I was left my father's business.
- (countable) A person's occupation, work, or trade.
- He is in the motor business.
- 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.
- 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, 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.
- Business has been slow lately.
- They did nearly a million dollars of business over the long weekend.
- 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
- (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.
- (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.
- (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.
- 1992, James Wallace and Jim Erickson, Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire[1], page 154:
- Gates, who always flew business or coach, didn't particularly like the high air fares Nishi was charging to Microsoft, […]
- 1992, James Wallace and Jim Erickson, Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire[1], page 154:
- (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[2], ISBN 0710203829, page 155:
- The business with the hat is a fine example of the difficulty of distinguishing between 'natural' and 'formal' acting.
- 1983, Peter Thomson, Shakespeare's Theatre[2], ISBN 0710203829, page 155:
- (countable, rare) The collective noun for a group of ferrets.
- 2004, Dave Duncan, The Jaguar Knights: A Chronicle of the King's Blades[3], 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.
- 2004, Dave Duncan, The Jaguar Knights: A Chronicle of the King's Blades[3], ISBN 0060555114, page 252:
- (uncountable, slang, UK) 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
patronage
private commercial interests taken collectively
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management of commercial enterprises
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, The China Governess[4]:
- 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.
- 1867, Edmund Hodgson Yates (editor), Amiens, in Tinsley's Magazine, page 430,
See also
Statistics
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Most common English words before 1923: lost · human · kept · #382: business · mean · manner · following
Finnish
Etymology
From English.
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":
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Declension of business (type vastaus)
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Pronunciation "business":
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Declension of business (type vastaus)
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Usage notes
It may be advisable to avoid using this term in writing.
Synonyms
- See Synonyms-section under bisnes
Italian
Etymology
From English business.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈbiznis/
Noun
business m (invariable)
- business (commercial enterprise)
Synonyms
Tatar
Etymology
Late loanword from English.
Noun
business
Declension
declension of business
| Nominative | business |
|---|---|
| Genitive | businessnıñ |
| Dative | businessga |
| Accusative | businessnı |
| Locative | businessda |
| Ablative | businessdan |
References
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