percentagen.
/pəˈsɛntɪdʒ/, U.S. /pərˈsɛn(t)ɪdʒ/ 1.
a. A rate, number or proportion in each hundred; a quantity or amount reckoned as so many hundredth parts of another, esp. of that regarded as the whole. More generally: any part or portion considered in its quantitative relation to the whole, a proportion (of something).
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the world > relative properties > number > ratio or proportion > [noun] > percentage
centage1756
percentage1757
p.c.1874
per cent1905
1757 J. H. Grose Voy. E.-Indies x. 169 The considerable merchants..would immediately strike a bargain..with no other trouble than settling the per centage upon the items of the invoice.
a1832 J. Bentham Princ. Internat. Law in Wks. (1843) II. 548/2 The difference between the per centage gained in that trade and the per centage gained in the next most productive trade.
1834 T. B. Macaulay William Pitt in Ess. (1887) 316 It had been usual for foreign Princes..to give to the Paymaster of the Forces a small per-centage on the subsidies.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. iii. 246 A certain per-centage of the heat will pass through the glass.
1928 Britain's Industr. Future (Liberal Industr. Inq.) iv. xxvii. 398 In some industrial centres there is a disquietingly high percentage of registered unskilled workers between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five.
1955 F. G. Ashbrook Butchering iv. 65 A relatively large percentage of intramuscular fat adds to the eating quality of the lean meat.
1991 Hist. & Computing 3 47/2 In illustrating percentages on the pie chart it is easy to read 25% or 50% but not 7.8%.
b. A proportion or share of a larger sum of money, esp. profits or winnings.
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1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. iv. ii. 18 Middle men in the trade..pocket a tolerable per centage.
1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It xlvi. 324 He was to have a large percentage of the profits on purchases and sales made on it by his fellow-conspirator.
1919 Times 29 July 4/6 It could hardly be said that an architect who had been excluded from the Act would be brought in again because he was paid a percentage.
1973 B. Rubens Go tell Lemming iii. 39 ‘How much are you paying?’ ‘No salary. A percentage.’
2002 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 26 July d1 Either somebody is getting a percentage or somebody's lawyer is getting a phone call today.
c. colloquial (originally U.S.). Personal gain or advantage; likely benefit (in a situation, course of action, etc.).
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the world > action or operation > advantage > [noun] > turning to account > capacity for
mileage1860
percentage1862
what is (also was, etc.) in it for——1884
1862 B. Harte Notes by Flood & Field in Golden Era 14 Sept. 5/3 What's the per centage—workin' on shares, eh?
1897 Worker (Sydney) 11 Sept. 1/1 ‘Percentage’ is the thing he says the shearer-man has got Who shears his sheep just as he likes but doesn't get the ‘shot’.
1925 College Humor Aug. 117/2 No percentage in staying on in this house. Darn thing's too big.
1952 B. Malamud Natural 90 He decided there might be some percentage to all these comparisons.
1992 G. Vanderhaeghe Things as they Are? 114 I don't see the percentage in selling perfectly good furniture, he said. You never get what it's worth.
2.
a. The proportion of stake money that a gaming establishment or a bookmaker expects to retain.
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1867 Galaxy Mar. 497 Here is exhibited the ‘percentage’, which exists in all banking games.
1979 M. L. Frank in D. Lester Gambling Today v. 76 If one examines the disadvantage gamblers face in the casino, one finds house percentages ranging from 0.5 percent to 17 percent.
1999 Odds On Feb. 6/2 A lot of racecourse bookmakers today, they don't understand the percentages.
b. Gambling slang. to play the percentages: to place a bet only when the odds are favourable; (more generally) to choose a safe or methodical course of action.
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > caution > be cautious or take care [verb (intransitive)] > act prudently
to cast (one's) pennyworths1530
to see (watch) which way the cat jumps1827
to screw one's head on tight1897
to play the percentages1951
to sniff the wind1972
1951 N. Algren Chicago ii. 24 The self-made executive type playing the percentages from the inside.
1973 Daily Pennsylvanian 9 Oct. 6 Houston knows the game and its angles thoroughly and plays the percentages to perfection.
1980 R. Mayer 1937 Newark Bears xii. 159 Manager Mike Kelly played the percentages and..brought in lefty Fred Fussell to face the left-handed hitting Keller.
1992 Rugby World & Post (BNC) 16 Instead of a bright new era, we can expect a diet of pragmatism and playing the percentages.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive uses.
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1821 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (ed. 2) ii. 326 A Per Centage Duty on the true Value, is also payable.
1842 E. A. Parnell Elements Chem. Anal. (1845) 484 Calculating the Atomic Constitution of a Body from its Per-centage Composition.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 25 Jan. 8/1 Both first- and third-class passengers showed a percentage increase.
1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man v. 144 It warns us not to be too hasty in drawing conclusions as to intelligence from percentage brain-weight, or as to the efficiency of circulation from percentage heart-weight.
2003 Financial Times (Nexis) 2 Oct. 4 Clifford Chance..yesterday notched up the largest percentage improvement in the annual job satisfaction survey.
b. attributive. Designating or involving a safe and methodical manner of playing a game or sport, which avoids risks even when there is potential for great gains; designating a person who plays in this way. Also in extended use. Cf. to play the percentages at sense 2b.
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1938 Times 13 Dec. 19/6 The percentage play is to lay down the Ace in the hope of dropping the King.
1974 P. Passell & L. Ross Best 18 A percentage player content to wait and squeeze out points.
2003 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 9 May The visitors played a steady percentage game that, while rarely pretty, proved unerringly effective.
C2.
percentage baseball n. Baseball a style of playing baseball in which strategic decisions are made on the basis of established form, playing statistics, etc.
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1920 T. Cobb in Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 13 Dec. 6/3 He knows the strong and weak points of every batter... They get a lot of hits off Bagby, but he wins because he is pitching percentage baseball.
1938 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 7 July 19/2 Even when you play percentage baseball luck is not a bad thing to have on your side.
1976 Lincoln (Nebraska) Star 14 June 11/6 Eastern Michigan won the game in the bottom of the tenth in the traditional percentage baseball manner.
2008 Sporting News 8 Dec. 62/3 We're more concerned with percentage baseball and running the bases in a smart and efficient manner, more so than the total number of bases we steal.
percentage error n. Statistics error expressed as a percentage.
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1865 Proc. Royal Soc. 14 164 (table) Percentage error of pair of observations from mean value.
2001 Jrnl. Business 74 614 The absolute value of the percentage error in the market's pricing of a firm's stock will generally be smaller for a diversified firm.
percentage man n. (a) a person who calculates or is interested in percentages, esp. as a way of predicting odds; (b) U.S. colloquial. rare a news photographer who takes a large number of photographs in the hope that some will be saleable; (c) a person who takes a profit in the form of a percentage.
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1876 N.Y. Times 20 Sept. 4/6 A Tilden evening paper names six States which, it says, are to hold election on the second Tuesday of October. If its percentage man will strike off fifty per cent of those it names and add one State it does not name, it will be correct.
1948 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 766 Percentage man. A news photographer who makes a large number of exposures, hoping that chance will give him a few good pictures.
1969 ‘R. Crawford’ Cockleburr i. vii. 71 I'm a percentage man... He's paying me ten per cent to get him clear with the money.
1988 Herald (Australia) (Nexis) 8 Aug. Tymms has always been a percentage man. He's not a punting bookmaker..preferring to work his book conservatively.
1993 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) 24 Feb. 4 No self-respecting pop group can be without a percentage man, sorry, manager.
percentage point n. (formerly) a proportion specified as a percentage; (in later use, esp. in Finance) a unit of one per cent.
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1902 Proc. Royal Soc. 1901–2 69 86 The values of the electric conductivities..varied at percentage points approximately corresponding to the composition required by the hydrates.
1946 Life 6 Sept. 19/1 The Dodgers went into first place by three percentage points.
1998 Economist 17 Jan. 51/1 Most Wall Streeters expect Asia's turmoil to knock about half a percentage point from America's growth rate this year.
percentage tennis n. Tennis a style of playing tennis designed to minimize errors (error n. Additions), typically characterized by avoidance of risky shots, careful placement of the ball, and cross-court play.
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1939 Los Angeles Times 28 May ii. 7/1 They play percentage tennis and it takes courage and skill to do it—hit 'em back and let your opponent take the chances.
1969 New Yorker 14 June 45/1 My style is playmaking—consistent, percentage tennis—and his style is shotmaking.
1992 Times 27 July 36/3 ‘I am playing better percentage tennis than last year,’Stich said... ‘It's not as risky.’
2005 Times of India 11 Feb. 21/2 Obziler..played percentage tennis and kept Sania on the move.
Derivatives
perˈcentaged adj. expressed or stated as a percentage.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > ratio or proportion > [adjective] > proportional > of percentage
centesimal1792
percentaged1884
percental1894
percentual1895
1884 New Eng. Jrnl. Educ. 19 376 To judge the teacher through his character and methods rather than by percentaged results.
1991 Electronics World & Wireless World (BNC) Sept. 743 Data residuals displayed—either directly as data, in percentaged form, or graphically.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1757