business

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

English [edit]

Wikipedia has articles on:

Wikipedia

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English busines, bisynes, from Old English bisiġnes (business, busyness), equivalent to busy +‎ -ness. Compare also busyness.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /ˈbɪzˌnəs/ or /ˈbɪzˌnɪs/, X-SAMPA: /"bIzn@s/, /"bIznIs/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: busi‧ness

Noun [edit]

business (countable and uncountable; plural businesses)

  1. (countable) A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.
    I was left my father's business.
  2. (countable) A person's occupation, work, or trade.
    He is in the motor business.
    I'm going to Las Vegas on business.
  3. (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.
  4. (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.
  5. (uncountable) One's dealings; patronage.
    I shall take my business elsewhere.
  6. (uncountable) Private commercial interests taken collectively.
    This proposal will satisfy both business and labor.
  7. (uncountable) The management of commercial enterprises, or the study of such management.
    I studied business at Harvard.
  8. (countable) A particular situation or activity.
    This UFO stuff is a mighty strange business.
  9. (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.
  10. (uncountable) Something involving one personally.
    That's none of your business.
  11. (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.
  12. (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, []
  13. (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.
  14. (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.
  15. (uncountable, slang, UK) Something very good; top quality. (possibly from "the bee's knees")
    These new phones are the business!
  16. (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 [edit]

Translations [edit]

Adjective [edit]

business

  1. Of, to, pertaining to or utilized for purposes of conducting trade, commerce, governance, advocacy or other professional purposes.
    "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,
      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.
    • 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

See also [edit]

Statistics [edit]


Finnish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From English.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: [ˈbisnes]
  • IPA: [ˈpisnes]
  • IPA: [ˈbusinesː]

Noun [edit]

business

  1. Alternative spelling of bisnes.

Declension [edit]

This spelling does not fit nicely into Finnish declension system and is therefore seldom used, and mainly in nominative singular.

Pronunciation "bisnes":

Pronunciation "business":

Usage notes [edit]

It may be advisable to avoid using this term in writing.

Synonyms [edit]

  • See Synonyms-section under bisnes

French [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Borrowed from English

Noun [edit]

business m (invariable)

  1. business, firm, company
  2. business, affairs

Italian [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From English business.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /ˈbiznis/

Noun [edit]

business m (invariable)

  1. business (commercial enterprise)

Synonyms [edit]


Tatar [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Late loanword from English.

Noun [edit]

business

  1. business

Declension [edit]

References [edit]

business dairäläre iğtibarın Tatarstan belän