释义 |
▪ I. discount, n.|ˈdɪskaʊnt| Also 7 discompt. [a. 16th c. F. descompte, earlier desconte, mod.F. décompte, vbl. n. f. descompter to discount. The French descompte, décompte has not the technical sense of discount, which is expressed by escompte, with vb. escompter, adapted from It. sconto, scontare. The earlier sense of discount in Eng. was app. as in French, the technical sense being later, taken perhaps from Italian sconto, though attached to the existing word.] †1. a. An abatement or deduction from the amount, or from the gross reckoning or value of anything. Obs. (exc. as in 2).
1622Eng. Commissioners to Jas. I, in Fortesc. Papers 189 The discount of the pepper brought into Hollande. 1669–70Marvell Corr. cxxxix. Wks. 1872–5 II. 306 In discount of the third yeare to be layd at the Custome House, to supply what falls short. 1727–51Chambers Cycl., Discount, is also used with less propriety for the tare, or waste of any commodity, sum, etc. There are 12 shillings discount in this bag. The cag of oil sent me from Spain leaks; there are fifty pints discount. 1798Bay Amer. Law Rep. (1809) I. 16 Against plaintiff's bill, defendant filed a discount for the loss of rent by plaintiff's delay. Ibid. 117 Permitted to offer [their claim] in discount against plaintiff's demand. b. fig. (partly from 2.)
1753A. Murphy Gray's-Inn Jrnl. No. 56 ⁋9 The Peevishness of these my Creditors is a great Discount upon my Happiness. 1794Miss Gunning Packet III. 38 Present fears are a heavy discount on future expectations. 1859F. Hall Vásavadattâ 54 The partiality for Bauddhas..must, very likely, be received with liberal discount. 2. Commerce. a. A deduction (usually at a certain rate per cent.) made for payment before it is due, or for prompt payment, of a bill or account; a deduction for cash payment from the price of an article usually sold on credit; any deduction or abatement from the nominal value or price.
1690Leybourn Curs. Math. 110 For discompt or rebate of money, this is the Proportion. 1702Burlesque R. L'Estrange's Vis. Quev. 269 Here's ready Money: Speak, what Discount? 1837Penny Cycl. IX. 18/1 The name of discount is also applied to certain trade allowances upon the nominal prices of goods. Ibid., The rates of discount in [a list now before us] vary from 5 to 40 per cent. upon the nominal prices of the different articles. 1862Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 252 Draw all the profits without discount or percentage. Mod. A retail bookseller who gives twopence in the shilling discount. A discount of 5 per cent. is offered for payment of this account before the end of the month. b. The deduction made from the amount of a bill of exchange or promissory note, by one who gives value for it before it is due, this deduction being calculated at a defined rate per cent. for the time the document has to run; practically, the interest charged by a banker or bill-discounter for advancing the value of a bill before it is due. This is the common form in which banks and discount-houses advance money to persons engaged in commerce; the banker or discounter having thus purchased the bill at a discount keeps it till maturity, when he realizes the full amount. In practice, discount is calculated as the interest on the amount of the bill for the time it has to run; this is more than what arithmeticians call the true discount, which is reckoned as interest on the present worth (i.e. that sum which if invested at the given rate for the given time would amount to the face value).
1683R. Clavel (title), Tables for the Forbearance and Discompt of Money. 1732De Foe Eng. Tradesman I. Pref. 11 The dismal consequences of usury, high discount, and paying interest for money. 1859Barn. Smith Arith. & Algebra (ed. 6) 491 We may define the Discount of a sum of money to be the interest of the Present Worth of that sum, calculated from the present time to the time when the sum would be properly payable. 1863Fawcett Pol. Econ. iii. vi. (1876) 361 The value of money is said to be represented by the Bank-rate of discount. 1881J. Brook-Smith Arith. (ed. 6) 323 With bankers and bill-discounters, discount is the interest of the sum specified, whereas, properly speaking, it is the interest of the present worth of that sum. And as the present worth of a sum due at a future time is less than the sum itself, the true discount is less than the banker's or mercantile discount; and therefore the banker obtains a small advantage. 3. The act of discounting a bill or note; with pl., a single transaction of this nature.
1839–40W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 119 To establish a bank of deposit, discount, and circulation. 1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 43 The Scotch banks make their advances partly by discount of bills, and partly by what are termed cash accounts, or cash credits. 1866Crump Banking iii. 78 Shall you require either loans or discounts, and to what amount? 1878Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 114 The most common and proper way in which a banker gives credit and employs his funds is in the discount of bills. 4. at a discount: at less than the nominal or usual value; below par; fig. in low esteem, reduced in estimation or regard, depreciated. (Opp. to at a premium.)
1701Lond. Gaz. No. 3710/3 Their Bills go at 50 per Cent. Discount. 1833H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. vi. 120 When its notes were at a discount. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. iii. xx. §2 (1876) 372 The price of bills would fall below par; a bill for 100l. might be bought for somewhat less than 100l., and bills would be said to be at a discount. 1861Goschen For. Exch. 5 Though one system of coinage were adopted for all countries, claims on foreign countries would nevertheless vary in price, and would still be either at a premium or at a discount. fig.1832Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) II. 237 ‘Conservative’ principles are at a discount throughout the world. 1842Marryat Percival Keene xxi, We should be at a pretty discount with the red-coats. 1856Reade Never too late lxxxv, Servants are at a great premium, masters at a discount, in the colony. 5. Billiards. An allowance made by a superior to an inferior player of a deduction of one or more counts from his score for every count made by the latter. (U.S.) 6. attrib. and Comb. (chiefly in sense 2 b), as discount-broker, one whose business is to cash or procure the cashing of notes or bills of exchange at a discount; also discount accommodation, discount business, discount house, discount market; (in sense 4) applied attrib. to a shop that sells goods below the normal retail price; also discount selling, discount trading.
1863Fawcett Pol. Econ. ii. v. (1876) 163 Applying to a banker or discount-broker for loans. Ibid. iii. ix. (1876) 415 The English discount-houses collect all the bills which are drawn upon France. 1866Crump Banking ix. 190 The directors..contracted the discount accommodation to the public. 1876World V. No. 117. 5 At to-day's rates there cannot possibly be any appreciable profit in discount business. 1889Spectator 31 Aug. 268/2 Harper's, which discount booksellers sell at 9d. a copy. 1891G. Clare Money-market Primer xii. 135 The very important part performed in the economy of the discount-market by the middleman, through whom..nearly the whole of the better class of business is transacted. 1922W. F. Spalding London Money Market vii. 106 The discount market is one of the most important sections of the London Money Market. 1933B. Ellinger This Money Business iii. 20 The Discount Market in London has been in existence for about seventy years. 1949Consumer Rep. Aug. 343/2 Buying..nationally-advertised goods from discount houses at savings up to 20%. 1958Oxf. Mail 16 July 6/5 Service in discount shops [in the U.S.] is poor. 1960Guardian 10 June 7/2 All forms of discount trading are violently denounced by trade associations. Ibid. 7/3 A London supermarket firm..is to build a..discount store in Manchester. 1962Listener 13 Dec. 994/2 The discount house, which sells all these things by self-service at very low prices, has grown phenomenally in recent years in the United States, but there are still only half a dozen or so in this country. 1964Times Rev. Industry Apr. 72/3 One supermarket chain in California..has switched over entirely to discount selling, including leasing departments in discount stores. 1970Times 23 Sept. 14/6 Strictly speaking a Discount Store is an enormous single storey self-service store..which sells a huge range of goods..at below normal retail prices. ▪ II. discount, v.1|dɪˈskaʊnt, ˈdɪskaʊnt| Also 7 discompt. [a. OF. desconter (13th c. in Littré), descompter (14th c.), mod.F. décompter = Sp. descontar (Minsheu 1599), It. discontare, scontare ‘to vnreckon, to abate in reckoning’ (Florio 1598), med.L. discomputāre (1293 in Du Cange), a late L. or Com. Romanic formation from dis-, dis- 4 + computāre to count, compute.] †1. trans. To reckon as an abatement or deduction from a sum due or to be accounted for. Obs.
1629Sir R. Chambers Petit. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 679 The other moity to be discompted upon such Goods as the Petitioner shall make entries of by Exportation or Importation in the Custom-house, London, until his debt with the interest be fully satisfied and paid. 1645Parl. Hist., Chas. I, an. 1645 (R.) That all provisions, or other necessaries, provided by your care, be so ordered, that account may be made what is taken; and that the said provisions may be discounted upon the pay of the said army. 1696Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 93 The Turky merchants have offered to advance a considerable summe to the king, provided it may be discounted out of the customes of their fleet. 1726R. Newton in Reminiscences (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 64 Decrements..so call'd as so much did..decrescere, or was discounted from a Scholar's Endowment. †b. To abate, to deduct. Obs.
1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 266 By dis-counting 38 years from the year 1051, that year 1012, is sufficiently manifest. 1664Butler Hud. ii. iii. 1105 All which [plunder] the Conq'rer did discompt, To pay for curing of his Rump. a1715Burnet Own Time II. 327 They made such exceptions to those of the other side, that they discounted as many voices as gave them the majority. 1828Webster s.v., Merchants discount five or six per cent., for prompt or for advanced payment. †c. to discount interest: to deduct ‘interest’ (now called discount) on receiving the amount of a bill or note before it is due: see sense 3. Obs.
1684Lond. Gaz. No. 1945/4 Because it may be some conveniency..to have present Money, if they please to discount Interest, they may have it at the Office. 1701Ibid. No. 3708/4 The whole Loss being to be paid by the Undertakers within 60 days.., or sooner upon discounting the Interest. †d. To reduce the amount of (a debt) by a set-off. Obs.
1713Swift To Earl Oxford iii Wks. 1758 III. ii. 46 Parvisol discounts arrears By bills for taxes and repairs. †2. intr. to discount for: to provide a set-off for; to meet, satisfy. Obs.
1647in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iv. II. 1025 Public monies which..Mr. Thornton had no ways satisfied or discounted for before his death. 1687R. L'Estrange Hist. Times i. 159 Discounting..for what we have Receiv'd from the Westminster-Insurance Offices. 1690Dryden Don Sebastian iii. i, My prayers and penance shall discount for these, And beg of heaven to charge the bill on me. 3. trans. To give or receive the ‘present worth’ of (a bill of exchange or promissory note) before it is due. a. To pay the value beforehand, with a deduction equivalent to the interest at a certain percentage for the time which it has still to run. b. Of the holder: To obtain cash for (a bill or note), with such deduction, before it is due. (See discount n. 2 b.)
1694Lond. Gaz. No. 3008/4 Foreign Bills of Exchange will be Discounted after the Rate of Four and half per Cent. per Annum. 1732De Foe Eng. Tradesman I. Suppl. ii. 389 The seller had a supply by discounting the bills. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iii. ii, Have you been able to get me that..bill discounted? 1848Mill Pol. Econ. iii. xi. §4 A bill of exchange, when merely discounted..does not perform the functions..of money, but is itself bought and sold for money. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xxiii. (1860) 251/1, I was fortunate enough not to discount for him a single bad bill. 1878Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 114 A banker will..discount such a bill, that is, buy it up for the sum due, after subtracting interest..for the length of time the bill has to run. 4. fig. In various senses derived from the foregoing: a. To leave out of account; to disregard, omit. b. To deduct or detract from, to lessen. c. To part with a future good for some present consideration. d. To settle or account for beforehand. And now esp.: e. To make a deduction in estimating the worth of (a statement, etc.); to make allowance for exaggeration in. f. To take (an event, etc.) into account beforehand, thus lessening its effect or interest when it takes place.
1702S. Parker Cicero's De Finibus 237 To relinquish himself, to discount his Body, and take up with a Summum Bonum Uncommensurate to the Whole of his Person. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Critic. Hist. 26 The Jacobits unaccountable Schism has been thoroughly discounted by our learned Dr. Turner. 1768Woman of Honor I. 165 In this light..how much would [they] have to discount of their boasts of having had a number of women as worthless as themselves? 1836–7Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xl. (1859) II. 402 Of the three opinions (I discount Brown's), under this head, one supposes [etc.]. 1851J. H. Newman Cath. in Eng. 329 Absolution for a week! then it seems, she has discounted, if I may so speak, her prospective confessions, and may lie, thieve, drink, and swear for a whole seven days with a clear conscience. 1855G. Brimley Ess., Poetry & Crit. 185 Discounting immortality for pottage. 1858Sat. Rev. V. 660/1 Making its own little profit by cleverly discounting a part of the great conception. 1860Ibid. IX. 825/1 His father discounted and exhausted the policy of perfidious concession. 1873H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. v. 112 We..have to estimate [the] worth [of evidence] when it has been discounted in many ways. 1876E. Mellor Priesth. iv. 172 To discount from the teaching of Christ the words ‘eat’ and ‘drink’, as modal terms..is to relinquish the literal interpretation. 1880Daily News 23 Sept., Acquaintance from books with the place to be visited ‘discounts’ the enjoyment of the visit. 1882Bithell Counting-house Dict. s.v., To discount news or intelligence, a cant phrase much used in City circles, is to anticipate or expect such intelligence, and then act as though it had already arrived. 1883C. J. Wills Mod. Persia 315 After a time one learns to mentally discount the statements made by the natives. a1884M. Pattison Mem. (1885) 214 Nor had his [Newman's] perversion, so long looked for, and therefore mentally discounted, at all fallen upon me like a blow. 5. Billiards. To allow discount to, as to discount an inferior player. (U.S.) Hence diˈscounted ppl. a., diˈscounting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1682J. Scarlett Exchanges 6 Discounted Exchange, is, when the Drawer and the Remitter is one and the same Person. 1732De Foe Eng. Tradesman I. Suppl. ii. 391 Discounting of bills is certain death to the tradesman. 1861Goschen For. Exch. 41 The discounting establishments at home. 1884Manch. Exam. 22 May 5/1 Fraudulent discounting of worthless accommodation bills. 1964Times Rev. Industry Feb. 98/2 The principles of discounted cash flow and sinking fund accounting.
Add:[3.] c. To reduce (a selling price) by means of a discount; hence, to sell (goods) at a discount.
1955Business Week 10 Sept. 54/2 Till now, a seller could discount his price to the buyer only by the amount that the buyer saved him in cost of distributing his product. 1975Ibid. 16 June 24/3 The price of rock may even fall to less than $25 per metric ton... It is already being discounted to around $43 per metric ton. 1977Gramophone June 4 (Advt.), Comet have been discounting Hi-Fi since 1968 and that makes us not only the biggest but one of the oldest-established discounters in the UK. 1981N.Y. Times 18 Jan. iii. 13/1 Stores such as Loehmann's and Barney's in New York..have discounted brand-name merchandise for years. ▪ III. † discount, v.2 Obs. rare. [f. dis- 1 + count v.] trans. To count or reckon separately or in separate series.
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. Index, Know that the discounting of Sheets (to expedite the work at severall Presses) hath occasioned in the Fifth book after page 200. compleated, to go back again to page (153) surrounded in this fashion, to prevent confusion. 1662J. Fuller ‘To the Reader’ in Fuller Worthies, The discounting of Sheets (to expedite the Work at severall Presses) hath occasioned the often mistake of the Folio's. [Cf.1653Gauden Hieraspistes 320 Reader, The Reason why the Folios of this Book do not follow is because the Copy (for Expedition) was divided to two Printers.] |