Definition of "profit"

profit

/ˈpɹɒfɪt/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural profits
1. (accounting, economics) Total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price.
  Quotations
  Let no man anticipate uncertain profits.
  1750 Oct. 2, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler
  War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our shoulders to the wheel," but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket—and are safely pocketed.
  1935, Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, page 1 & 7
  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. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
  2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68
2. (dated, literary) Benefit, positive result obtained.
  Quotations
  This I speak for your own profit.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1 Corinthians vii:35
  if you dare do yourself a profit and a right
  c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii]
3. (property law) Ellipsis of profit à prendre.
verb
third-person singular simple present profits, present participle profiting, simple past and past participle profited
1. (transitive) To benefit (somebody), be of use to (somebody).
  Quotations
  The word preached did not profit them.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Hebrews 4:2
  It is a great means of profiting yourself, to copy diligently those excellent pieces and beautiful designs.
  1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […]
2. (intransitive, construed with from) To benefit, gain.
3. (intransitive, construed with from) To take advantage of, exploit, use.

Definition of "profit"

profit

noun

Quotations

Quotations

verb

Quotations