incentiveadj.n.

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1143 Pythia the Priestresse of Apollo, being once come downe from her three footed fabricke, upon which she receiveth that incentive spirit of furie, remaineth quiet.

1660 tr. M. Amyraut Treat. conc. Relig. i. vii. 109 Embellish'd with many beauties incentive of our Love.

1677 W. Hubbard Narr. Troubles with Indians New-Eng. Postscr. 10 Instances of this nature should be Incentive unto us, to bless the Father of Lights.

1742 R. North & M. North Life F. North 177 The Lord Shaftsbury..made an incentive Speech in the House of Lords.

1864 Reader No. 92. 405/2 Pleasing and incentive..to.. our mental faculties.

1866 R. S. Candlish 1st Epist. John ix. 104 It is a stimulus and incentive impulse.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 519 Part incentive reed Provide, pernicious with one touch to fire. View more context for this quotation

1708 J. Philips Cyder i. (Seager) The cavern'd ground, With grain incentive [gunpowder] stor'd, by sudden blaze Bursts fatal.

1943 Reader's Digest Aug. 11/1 Mr. Charles E. Wilson..is urging war industries to adopt ‘incentive pay’—that is, to pay workers more if they produce more.

1948 Ann. Reg. 1947 283 In an effort to increase foreign trading various incentives were offered to exporters..a proportion of the foreign exchange..for the purchase of raw materials,..and ‘incentive’ goods for their workers.

1951 Engineering 2 Mar. 245/2 The body of the book is concerned with a description of the [‘Armstrong Merit Sharing’] scheme... A series of ‘requirements’ is laid down to which it is considered that any incentive scheme should conform.

1952 ‘Vigilans’ Chamber of Horrors 72 Incentive bonus, a bonus in advance as an encouragement, for workers, to work.

1957 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 272/1 For a substantial number of wage earners compensation is defined in terms not of time units but of output, under various types of incentive systems.

1957 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 272/2 The essential characteristic of an incentive wage rate structure is that payment depends on output rather than work time.

1966 T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. ii. 53 These [group controls] were turned mainly to the manipulation of the incentive payment system.

1967 G. F. Fiennes I tried to run Railway iv. 31 Work Study became synonymous with incentive payments.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 5 The incentiue of manhode.

1612 J. Selden in M. Drayton Poly-olbion vi. Illustr. 97 A musicall incentiue to warre.

1638 F. Rous Heavenly Acad. i. 5 Let the precept and patternes of vertues,..serve for spurs and incentives to grace.

1665 R. Boyle Disc. i. iii, in Occas. Refl. sig. B5^v Incentives to inflame our hearts with Charity and Zeal.

1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 50. 329 This Paper is principally designed as an Incentive to the Love of our Country.

1849 D. M. Mulock Ogilvies viii With men of Lynedon's character opposition is often the greatest incentive to love.

1956 C. A. Hickman & M. H. Kuhn Individuals, Groups & Econ. Behavior ii. 50 Debate about this central question has hinged in large part on the issue of incentives.

1956 C. A. Hickman & M. H. Kuhn Individuals, Groups & Econ. Behavior ii. 60 Gordon enumerates several nonfinancial incentives of some apparent importance, including power, prestige, and security.

1960 H. C. Wallich Cost of Freedom iii. 81 This leaves us with incentives in the narrower sense as the third element in the triad of forces upon which we rely to call forth initiative and effort.

1960 H. C. Wallich Cost of Freedom iii. 89 Labor and management performance is not the only place where we must look for the effects of incentives.

1856 in Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang.