three per centadj.n.
A. adj.
1. Yielding three per cent. interest (see branch B.).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > [adjective] > profitable > relating to interest
three per cent1753
interest-bearing1894
annualized1906
coupon1949
1753 Bank of Eng. Dividend Bk. 5 Jan. 3 per cent. consolidated annuities.
1796 Count Rumford in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 87 215 In the three per cent. consolidated public funds of this country.
2. Containing three parts in every hundred.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > ratio or proportion > [adjective] > proportional > of percentage > specified
per cento1553
per cent1568
per centum1589
three per cent1880
1880 R. Barwell Aneurism i. 12 I..placed them in a three-per-cent. solution of carbolic acid.
B. n. (absol. use of sense A. 1).
In plural three per cents n. the Government securities of Great Britain, consolidated in 1751 into a single stock paying 3 per cent. interest: see consolidated adj. 1b.In 1888 the interest on the consolidated stock (consols) was reduced to 23/ 4 per cent., and in 1903 to 21/ 2 per cent., so that the name, so long familiar, ceased to be applicable.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun] > stock > of the national debt > consols
consolidated annuities1753
consols1770
three per cents1794
Goschens1889
1794 G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 195 We borrow in the Three Per Cents.
1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward I. Introd. p. x There was two thousand three-per-cents as much lost to my family as if the sponge had been drawn over the national slate.
a1839 W. M. Praed Poems (1864) I. 266 Annuities and Three per Cents., Little cares he about them.
1905 Harmsw. Encycl. 1562/2 In 1888..the 3 per cents. outstanding were..£549,094,000.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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adj.n.1753