| 释义 |
▪ I. profit, n.|ˈprɒfɪt|
[a. OF. and mod.F. profit (= earlier OF. prufit (a 1140 in Godef. Compl.), pur-, po(u)rfit, in 15th c. prouf(f)it):—L. prōfect-us advance, progress, profit, f. L. prōfic-ĕre (ppl. stem prōfect-) to advance: see proficient.
The OF. forms in prū-, prou-, immediately represent L. prō-; those in pur-, por-, pour-, agree with the usual OF. representation of the L. prep. and prefix prō, in mod.F. pour. Of the various ME. types, profit coincides with later OF. and mod.F.; prouf(f)it reproduces the 15th c. Fr.; profect was a Renascence assimilation to L. profect-us; and prophit, -phet, an erroneous spelling after prophet, L. propheta (see PH). With profiȝt, profight, cf. the similar perfiȝt, perfight, under perfect a.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
(α) 4– profit; 4–6 -ite, -yt, 4–7 -et, 5 -et(t)e, 5–6 -ett, -itte, -yte, 6 -eit; 5–6 proffet, -ette, -it, 6 -uyt, -uyte, -ute, -yte, -eit, 7 -itt.
c1325,c1330, etc. Profyt, Profit [see B. 1, etc.]. a1340Profet [see B. 2]. c1350Will. Palerne 1 For profite þat he feld. 14..Customs of Malton in Surtees Misc. (1888) 58 All y⊇ proffettes of y⊇ sayd walles. 1460Lybeaus Disc. 835 To tho Lybeaus profyte. 1464Rolls of Parlt. V. 527/2 Wode, or profitte of Wode. 1466in Archæologia (1887) L. i. 50 A syngler profette hyrtyth and harmyth a comyn wele. 1483Cath. Angl. 292/1 A Proffet. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xiv. 53 They think no sin, quhair proffeit cumis betwene. 1521Knaresborough Wills (Surtees) I. 11 Of the next profettes. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lxvi. 228 Nor haue had but small profyte. 1533Gau Richt Vay 20 And seikkis his awne wil and profeit. 1536Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 42 §7 The profutes yerely goyng to and for the exhibicion. 1546in Eng. Gilds (1870) 196 Revenuez & proffuytes. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 102 The proffet..wold conteruaile wyth the toile. 1588Profite [see B. 6]. 1604Proffitt [see B. 5].
(β) 4 profiȝt, -yȝt, 5 -yht, -ith, 6 -ight, -yght, -ygth, -ygtt.
c1315Shoreham Poems vii. 434 Ȝef hy hade be mad parfyȝt, We nedde y-haued ryȝt no profyȝt. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 3 Medlynge to gidre profiȝtes and swetnes [orig. utile dulci]. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 30 To profyht of the cherche. 1538Audley in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 242 More..then eny profight in the world. 1545Brinklow Compl. 10 b, That it make for the profyght of Antichristes Knyghtes.
(γ) 4 prophit, -ite, -et, 4–5 -ete, 5 -yt.
[1362Prophitable: see profitable 1.] c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiii. (George) 609 Þat I gyf þe for þi prophit And als of wynnyng for delyt. 1387Prophete [see B. 1]. 1473J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 25 The Kynge..toke the prophete of the Archebysshopperyche.
(δ) 5 prouffit, -ite, -yt, 5–6 -yte.
1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 42 The commoun prouffit of the toune. 1488Caxton Chas. Gt. 2 For prouffyte of euery man. 1509Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 307 We sholde more regarde our owne prouffytes.
(ε) 5–6 profect, 6 proffect, profecte, -fict.
1465Marg. Paston in P. Lett. II. 188 That she may not have the profects of Clyre ys place. 1528Lyndesay Dreme 910 To thare singulare proffect. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. Pref., More to their profecte & benefite. 1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 6 For commune profict.
B. Signification.
1. a. The advantage or benefit (of a person, community, or thing); use, interest; the gain, good, well-being. Formerly sometimes pl. when referring to several persons.
c1315[see A. β]. c1325Spec. Gy Warw. 60 Þat were my ioye and my delit, And to my soule a gret profyt. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 159 It is my profit, to myn I wille þam holde. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 153, I have ȝitte out all my patrimony into ȝoure prophetes [L. in commoda vestra]. 1439Litt. Red Bk. Bristol (1900) II. 156 He..schal be amercied in xijd. to the commune profite. 1481Caxton Myrr. i. iii. 10 He doth it more for his owen prouffyt than he doth it for other. 1535Coverdale 1 Macc. x. 20 Yt thou mayest considre what is for oure profit. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 30 Where I spake of profite..vnder the same is comprehended the getting of gaine, and the eschuyng of harme. 1648Eikon Bas. xiv. 138 Profit is the Compasse, by which Factious men steere their course in all seditious Commotions. 1709Addison Tatler No. 100 ⁋6 Posts of Honour, Dignity, and Profit. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 142 Its Wood is..fit for no Use,..so that it is a Tree of no Kind of Profit. 1810Bentham Packing (1821) 183 The learned gentleman..of whose learning we have already made our profit. 1873Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap iv. 240 This power you hold for profit of myself And all the world at need.
b. transf. That which is to the advantage or benefit of some one or something.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. i. iv. 61 A man..who..Doth rebate, and blunt his naturall edge With profits of the minde. 1604― Oth. iii. iii. 379, I thanke you for this profit.
†2.
a. The advantage or benefit of or resulting from something. Obs.
a1340Hampole Psalter ix. 36 What profet has he to doe swa many illes? 1382Wyclif Rom. iii. 1 What profyt of circumcisioun? Moche by alle maner. c1425Craft Nombrynge (MS. Egerton 2622, lf. 140), Nexte þou most know..qwat is þe profet of þis craft. 1535Coverdale Prov. iii. 13 The gettinge of it is better then eny marchaundise of syluer, & the profit of it is better then golde. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 1 He had not seene any profit to come by any Synode. 1628Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 154 Both justice and profit of revenge..can never possibly be found together in the same thing.
b. With a and pl. An instance of this; a good result or effect of something. Obs.
1502Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) v. vii. 416 Twelue other prouffytes the whiche cometh of good werkes done in mortall synne. 1543Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. i. i. 1 In the whych Anatomie the vtilities and profectes of the same are declared.
†3. Progress, advance, improvement; = proficience, proficiency 1. Obs. rare.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. i. 7 My brother Iaques he keepes at schoole, and report speakes goldenly of his profit.
4. That which is derived from or produced by some source of revenue, e.g. ownership of land, feudal or ecclesiastical rights or perquisites, taxes, etc.; revenue, proceeds, returns. Chiefly pl.
[1292Britton iii. iii. §4 Tut le profit qe il prist pur le mariage soit restoré as amis et as parentz la femme.] 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 7 Þe firste benefice þat voydede, wiþ þe fruyt and prophetes. 1447–8J. Shillingford Lett. (Camden) 91 The amerciamentis issuys and proffits therof comyng. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 120 What profites arryse of the christenyng of children, of mariages, pilgrimages [etc.]. Ibid. 286 The Duke of Saxon..shall kepe the town and Castel of Gothe, with al the profite. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 366 The fines, perquisites, amercements, and other profites growing out of the trials of such causes. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 374 The limitation to F. M. to enjoy and take the profits during his life, and after his decease to the heirs male of his body.
5. The pecuniary gain in any transaction; the amount by which value acquired exceeds value expended; the excess of returns over the outlay of capital: in commercial use chiefly in pl. In Pol. Econ., The surplus product of industry after deducting wages, cost of raw materials, rent, and charges. † In early use also including interest.
1604Aberdeen Regr. (1848) II. 256 The soume of ane hundreth merkis..borrowit..be the toune..and to pay..the soume of four pundis, for the proffitt of the said soume for the half-yeir past. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 137 Nor is the Profit small, the Peasant makes, Who smooths with Harrows, or who pounds with Rakes The crumbling Clods. 1764Burn Poor Laws 194 The profits of any work that may be done in said hospitals to be also added to the revenue of the said hospitals. 1776Adam Smith W.N. i. vi. (1869) I. 54 The revenue derived from labour is called wages. That derived from stock, by the person who manages or employs it, is called profit. 1825McCulloch Pol. Econ. iii. v. 291 The profits of capital are only another name for the wages of accumulated labour. 1845Ford Handbk. Spain i. 24 Nobody would be an innkeeper if it were not for the profit. 1893Law Times XCV. 5/2 His profits diminished at the rate of 60 per cent.
6. Phrases.
a. profit and loss († profit or loss), an inclusive expression for the gain and loss made in a series of commercial transactions, and the gain or loss made in one transaction; esp. in profit and loss account, an account in book-keeping to which all gains are credited and losses are debited, so as to strike a balance between them, and ascertain the net gain or loss at any time. In Arithmetic, the name of a rule by which the gains or losses on commercial transactions are calculated.
1588J. Mellis Briefe Instr. E viij, Of the famous accompt called profite or losse, or otherwise Lucrum or Damnum, and how to order it in the Leager. Ibid. ch. xviii, Item touching the accomptes (of profite and losse) of necessitie it must haue one accompt proper in some one place of your Leager. 1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 372 Wheras you made ouer..the sum of 2300ll sterling you now receiue backe 2363ll 11ss, whereby your profit is 63ll 11ss, of this you make your Factor Debitor, and the account of Profit and Losse Creditor. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xlvii. 170, 500 Chests of Japan Copper..were brought into Account of Profit and Loss, for so much eaten up by the white Ants. 1882Bithell Counting-ho. Dict. (1893) 244 If the Profit and Loss Account shews a nett gain the balance is placed on the Cr. side of Capital Account; if a loss, on the Dr. side. 1891T. Hardy Tess lvi, She was too deeply materialized..by her long and enforced bondage to that arithmetical demon Profit-and-Loss, to retain much curiosity for its own sake.
‖b. profit à prendre [F., = profit to take], see quot. 1876. † to fall profit: see fall v. 46 c. in profit, said of milch cattle: giving milk, in milk. † to profit, to a remunerative employment. † upon profit (Sc.), at interest.
1565Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 391 The remanent of hir barnis nocht put to proffeit as yit, to the nowmer of four dochteris and ane sone. 1588Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1882) IV. 520 Money [to be] gotten vpoun proffeitt for making thair charges. 1602Aberdeen Regr. (1848) II. 234 The sowme of ane hundreth merkis to be..vpliftit vpon proffitt be the thesaurer. 1658tr. Coke's Rep. vi. 60 b (1826), They claim not a charge, or profit apprender in the soil of another, but a discharge in their own land. 1876Digby Real Prop. iii. 154 If the right is to take a portion of the soil or the produce of the soil of another, the right is called a profit à prendre. 1884W. Sussex Gaz. 25 Sept., 19 excellent dairy cows and heifers..in calf or profit.
7. attrib. and Comb., as profit economy, profit income, profit-monger, profit-mongering, profit plan, profit statement; profit-bearing, profit-conscious (hence profit-consciously adv.), profit-hungry, profit-linked profit-proof adjs.; objective and obj. genitive, as profit-grinder, profit-maximizer, profit-producer, profit-snatcher; profit-cashing, profit-generating, profit-earning, profit-hunting, profit-making, profit-maximizing, profit-planning, profit-pooling, profit-seeking, ns. and adjs.; (instrumental, etc.) profit-motivated, profit-oriented adjs.
1918W. S. Churchill Let. 10 Sept. in M. Gilbert W. S. Churchill (1975) IV. vii. 145 The lives they have saved and the prisoners they have taken have made these 18,000 men the most profit-bearing we have in the army. 1945Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 5 May 12/3 Profit-cashing by those who desired a clean slate over the week-end stalled numerous leaders. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 1 Mar. 149/2 (Advt.), Every profit-conscious egg producer must have Evans Maxilay and Topscore strains. 1976Western Mail (Cardiff) 22 Nov. 8/4 A number of their most profit conscious private sector industries.
1972Physics Bull. June 366/3 Profit-consciously,..the company will normally supply the crawler only as part of its contract inspection service.
1943Sun (Baltimore) 8 Feb. 3/2 The ‘profit economy’ has not always been equal to the demands of war. 1970R. Stavenhagen in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. vii. 242 Sol Tax describes the Panajackel Indians' economy as being a ‘penny capitalism’..because they are oriented towards a profit economy. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 14 Aug. 4/1 Profit-generating factors seem to have existed on Sundays in the Big Apple.
1893Morris in Mackail Life (1899) II. 297 The struggle against the terrible power of the profit-grinder.
1939Sun (Baltimore) 18 Aug. 6/1 The profit-hungry Celanese Corporation of America..is creating a public resentment.
1903Westm. Gaz. 13 Nov. 2/1 Germany also has a large profit-income, though on a much smaller scale than ours.
1972Accountant 12 Oct. 447/3 (heading) Profit-linked share incentive schemes. 1973Times 31 Oct. 1/1 (heading) Government puts limit on profit-linked rises in Phase Three changes.
1891Miss Potter in Daily News 18 July 5/1 The upper and middle-class..demand the servility of the profit-making traders. 1953E. Smith Guide Eng. Traditions & Public Life 76 ‘Public Schools’..are not conducted for the purpose of profit-making. If there should be any excess of income over expenditure it is used for improvements in the school. 1974Times 15 Oct. 5/2 A straightforward profit-making job with very few public benefits.
1968Listener 28 Mar. 403/1 A pure profit-maximiser would already be attacking these hindrances to profit if he could.
1961Southern Econ. Jrnl. Oct. 163/1 Where the industry's product price has been kept below the ‘profit-maximizing’ and ‘entry-limiting’ prices due to fears of public reaction. 1968Listener 4 Apr. 437/2 So much for constraints of profit-maximising. 1977Dædalus Fall 92 Larger and larger fractions of the GNP are being produced in sectors..that are clearly not competitive profit-maximizing sectors.
1961Spectator 2 June 808 The profitmongers have an uncanny nose for threats.
1888Charity Organis. Rev. Jan. 19 The grinding exaction of the profit-monger and middleman.
1884W. Morris in Justice 17 May 2/2 Ugliness is but a part of the bestial waste of the whole system of profit-mongering, which refuses cultivation and refinement to the workers. 1973Listener 14 June 805/1 The public's distrust of..endorsements, knowing them to be profit-motivated and not spontaneous. 1978W. Garner Möbius Trip ii. 57 The tatty commercialism of profit-motivated research.
1976Nigerian Chron. 18 Aug. 7/4 Government has recently decided to grant full autonomy in personnel matters to all profit-oriented parastatals. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. e3/4 ‘I think we need a president who is more profit-oriented,’ he said.
1967D. Goch in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. 158 Profit plan, profit target based on a predetermined rate of return required from the invested funds represented by the fixed assets and working capital employed in carrying on a business activity.
1964E. C. D. Evans (title) Profit planning and the measurement of return on capital employed.
1599Daniel Musophilus i, Other delights than these, other desires This wiser profit-seeking Age requires. 1681D'Urfey Progr. Honesty xiii, No man that's profit-proof, nor woman true. 1927M. Sadleir Trollope: a Comm. 148 The profit-seeking [of the Great Exhibition]..lay behind the pious ejaculations of an inspired Press. 1949I. Deutscher Stalin ii. 27 The evils of modern profit-seeking industrialism. 1965H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy (1968) iii. 37 It would seem..that profit-seeking, or maximization of profit, would be the natural single business objective.
1808Bentham Sc. Reform 15 A forced increase to the multitude of profit-yielding suits. 1898Chr. Murray in Daily News 27 Jan. 6/4 In the early days, a Colony was regarded as a profit-yielding settlement.
b. Special Combs.: profit foul U.S. Basketball, an intentional or ‘professional’ foul committed to prevent one's opponents from scoring (? Obs.); profit margin, the margin that remains in a business operation when the costs involved are deducted from profits, usu. considered as a percentage of the capital employed (cf. margin n. 2 b, quot. 1866); profit(s motive (usu. with the), the incentive that the possibility of making profits gives to individual or free enterprise; profit-rent, a rent of which the amount is due to a tenant's improvements; profit-sharing, the sharing of profits, spec. between employer and employed, or between capital and labour; so profit-sharer; also as adj.; profit squeeze, the diminishment in profit margins due to costs rising relatively faster than selling prices with insufficient compensation from increased sales; profit-taking (Stock-exchange), the act of realizing the profit obtainable by the sale of stock, etc., in which a rise in price has taken place; so profit-taker.
1952Sun (Baltimore) 15 Jan. 17/3 Veteran Coach Murray Greason..criticized today what he termed widespread use of the ‘*profit foul’ in basketball.
1926Encycl. Brit. III. 225/2 Various measures were taken during the War to restrict profiteering, especially in belligerent countries. These included the fixing of maximum prices, and in some cases of *profit margins at each stage of production and distribution. 1974Guardian 25 Mar. 22/6 The discount stores operate on narrow profit margins. 1976B. Williams Making of Manchester Jewry iii. 67 The general move was in the direction of mass sales at a low profit margin.
1931Patterson & Scholz Econ. Probl. Mod. Life (ed. 2) ii. 37 The *profits motive represents the modern crystallization of the economic force of self⁓interest. Hence, production is guided by market value and turns toward the production of luxuries for which there is an effective demand. 1936J. M. Keynes Gen. Theory Employment xxiii. 335 In conditions in which the quantity of aggregate investment is determined by the profit motive alone, the opportunities for home investment will be governed..by the domestic rate of interest. 1947A. E. Waugh Princ. Econ. xxxvi. 863 A society that used coercion instead of the profit motive would not need to establish such institutions as those of free enterprise and free contract. 1975Verbatim May 3/2 Never forget that the profit motive can sometimes be used to a customer's advantage.
1859Trollope West Indies xiv, The small, grasping, *profit-rent landlords.
1881S. Taylor in 19th Cent. May 802 (title) *Profit-sharing. 1884― (title) Profit-Sharing between Capital and Labour. 1900Econ. Rev. X. 239 (heading) Two profit-sharing concerns. 1920M. Beer Hist. Brit. Socialism II. iv. xiv. 292 Profit-sharing and Industrial Co-partnership schemes have been re-examined. 1949Here & Now (N.Z.) Oct. 11/2 Far from being the predatory capitalist, he offers himself as the profit-sharing employer. 1975Times 14 Jan. 14/1 Only 22 per cent of the sample belonged to profit sharing or bonus schemes related to the profits the company makes. 1979West Lancs. Even. Gaz. 28 May 11 (Advt.), The company offers an attractive starting salary, operates a profit-sharing scheme and other benefits.
1891Chambers' Encycl. VIII. 437/1 Those who have tested any system of profit-sharing declare that it requires much time and pains to produce substantial results; and a difficulty..is that *profit-sharers are not unfrequently unwilling to share the losses of the concern.
1958Wall St. Jrnl. 8 Dec. 1/6 The outstanding feature of 1959 may be a further *profit squeeze. 1969J. Argenti Managem. Techniques iii. 11 If margins fall, profits fall, unless the company can somehow increase sales volume—and that is not easy. This phenomenon is known as ‘the Profit Squeeze’ and most companies today are feeling its effects.
1552Huloet, *Profite taker. 1968Economist 5 Oct. 78/1 What does seem to have arrived is the day of the profit-taker. 1980Times 5 Jan. 19 The profit takers pulled out of gold.
1896Daily News 5 Nov. 7/4 A jump of 1 to 7 in prices,..brought out enormous *profit-taking sales largely by houses which bought early in London. 1897Ibid. 17 July 3/1 Stocks reacted under heavy profit-taking. 1904Daily Chron. 21 Sept. 1/7 At Paris the Bourse opened firm, but fell away on profit-taking. 1928Daily Mail 25 July 18/3 In the Electrical group Bournemouth and Pooles eased on profit-taking. 1976Birmingham Post 16 Dec. 9/10 Stocks settled for a small gain after two rally attempts were stalled by profit-taking.
c. pl., as profits tax, a tax on business profits, spec. that levied on company profits, as excess profits tax (excess n. 6 b).
1920[see corporation tax s.v. corporation 7]. 1938Ann. Reg. 1937 38 The Chancellor..was urged from many quarters to withdraw the profits tax and meet his requirements from a further increase in the income tax. 1947Western Daily Express 14 June 1 The increased profits tax was criticized at the annual meeting of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce. 1958Times 7 Jan. 15/1 The effect on capital allowances for profits tax purposes of new plants coming into operation. 1974Times 17 Apr. (Ontario, Manitoba & Saskatchewan Suppl.) p. iv, Both provinces have imposed a special ‘windfall profits’ tax to prevent developing companies from profiting unduly from share increases in the world price of their products.
▪ II. profit, v.|ˈprɒfɪt|
Forms: see the n.; also 4 profiti, profetye.
[ME. a. F. profiter, earlier OF. prufiter (a 1140 in Hatz.-Darm.), po(u)rfiter, f. prufit, profit profit n.]
I.
†1. intr. To make progress; to advance, go forward; to improve, prosper, grow, increase (in some respect). Obs.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. 6 Ay þe mare I profette in þe luf of Jhesu þe swetter I fand it. 1382Wyclif Luke ii. 52 And Jhesu profitide in wysdom, age, and grace anemptis God and men. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 431/1 Prouffytyng from vertue in to vertue. 1540R. Wisdome in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. App. cxv. 325 Loe!..yee se that we profect nothing at al. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. i. 15 My husband saies my sonne profits nothing in the world at his Booke. 1607–12Bacon Ess., Empire (Arb.) 296 The minde of Man is more cheared, and refreshed by profitinge in smale things, then by standing at a stay in great.
II.
2. trans. Of a thing: To be of advantage, use, or benefit to; to do good to; to benefit, further, advance, promote. (Orig. intr., with indirect obj. (dative), which was at length treated as direct.)
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 146 Þey ȝeue vs grace ryȝt so to deme Vs to profyt, and god to queme. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xi. (Percy Soc.) 45 It shall hym prouffyt yf he wyll apply To doo therafter ful conveniently. 1526Tindale Matt. xvi. 26 Whatt shall hit proffet a man [1382 Wyclif, what profitith it to a man], yf he shulde wyn all the whoole worlde: so he loose hys owne soule? 1605Timme Quersit. i. xiii. 62 [They] doe consist and are profited by these three beginnings. 1741–2Gray Agrippina 12 'Twill profit you, And please the stripling. 1874Sidgwick Meth. Ethics ii. iii. §3. 129 The most careful estimate of a girl's pleasures..would not much profit a young woman.
b. intr. To be of advantage, use, or benefit; avail. Const. to (= dative). In later use, without const., regarded as absolute use of 2.
1340–70Alex. & Dind. 509 Hit profiteþ nouht to preche of oure dedus. a1450Cursor M. 13919 (Fairf.) Gode is to wirke euerilk day Þinge þat prophetis to þe lay. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 125 The sayd Galyen sayd wysdom can not proufyt to a foole. 1486Bk. St. Albans, Her. f viij b, Yet shall thai [rules] profecte for thys sciens gretly. 1579Fulke Heskins's Parl. 523 They profit alike to al men. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 571 Oft times nothing profits more Then self-esteem, grounded on just and right Well manag'd. 1842Tennyson Ulysses 1 It little profits that an idle king..I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race. 1904H. Black Practice Self Culture ii. 58 Bodily exercise does profit for some things.
†3. Of a person:
a. intr. To be profitable, bring profit or benefit, do good (to some one);
b. trans. To be profitable to, benefit, do good to;
c. refl. To benefit oneself, make one's profit; = 4.
a1425Cursor M. 5417 (Trin.) His lord he profited erly and late. 1533Elyot Knowledge Pref., I mought profyte to them whiche..wolde..reade it. 1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 66 b, Hee bent himselfe rather to profite those which should reade him, than to delight them. a1648Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII (1683) 632 His Courtiers (especially those who had profited themselves of Abbies).
4. intr. (for refl.) To benefit oneself; to derive profit or benefit; to be benefited.
c1400Apol. Loll. 59 To w[h]as profit presthed is ȝeuen, not only þat men prest, or be boun, but þat þey prophet. 1509Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 291 Thynges..of weyght & substaunce wherin she myghte prouffyte she wolde not let for ony payne or laboure to take vppon hande.
b. esp. with prepositions † with, by, of, from: To derive benefit from, be a gainer by; to avail oneself of; to make use of, take advantage of.
c1400Destr. Troy 5169 If we shall proffet with proues, or any fose wyn. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2, I beseche all them specyally yt shall profyte by this worke to praye for me. 1578Timme Caluine on Gen. 132 He profited nothing with his outrage. 1676Dryden Aurengz. ii. 28 You might have found a mercenary Son, To profit of the Battels he had won. 1796Burke in Epist. Corr. Burke & Dr. Laurance (1827) 57 Mrs. Burke..has not profited of the bathing. 1796Burney Mem. Metastasio I. 389 If it is not too late for him to profit from the information. 1797Monthly Mag. III. 491 All of these..profited by the opportunity to effect their escape. 1871G. Meredith H. Richmond III. 130 He was prompt in an emergency, and quick to profit of a crisis. 1873M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma (1876) 141 To profit fully by the New Testament, the first thing to be done is [etc.].
†5. trans. To render profitable. Obs. rare.
1578–9Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 109 To lawbour and proffeit the ground.
III. †6. (?) To bring forward, present. Obs. rare.
1611N. Riding Rec. (1884) I. 217 The executors of the late Rob. Simpson, Threasurer for the Hospitalls, shall profitt his accompt at Pickering on April 12th.
Hence ˈprofited, ˈprofiting ppl. adjs.
1581Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 203 Officious thankefullnes in the profited hearer. c1605in T. Hutton Reasons for Refusal (1605) 28 Sundry places of this Scripture..left out as lesse profiting, or edifying. 1848in W. Arnot Life J. Hamilton i. (1869) 33 For years I have been a profited reader of your writings. 1908Daily Chron. 3 Oct. 5/4 So many profiting interests are concerned that there can be little doubt as to the ultimate formation of a syndicate.
▪ III. profit(e
obs. forms of prophet. |