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6 dictionary results for: Business
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
busi·ness 
[biz-nis] Pronunciation Key
[biz-nis] Pronunciation Key –noun
–adjective
—Idioms
| 1. | an occupation, profession, or trade: His business is poultry farming. |
| 2. | the purchase and sale of goods in an attempt to make a profit. |
| 3. | a person, partnership, or corporation engaged in commerce, manufacturing, or a service; profit-seeking enterprise or concern. |
| 4. | volume of trade; patronage: Most of the store's business comes from local families. |
| 5. | a building or site where commercial work is carried on, as a factory, store, or office; place of work: His business is on the corner of Broadway and Elm Street. |
| 6. | that with which a person is principally and seriously concerned: Words are a writer's business. |
| 7. | something with which a person is rightfully concerned: What they are doing is none of my business. |
| 8. | affair; project: We were exasperated by the whole business. |
| 9. | an assignment or task; chore: It's your business to wash the dishes now. |
| 10. | Also called piece of business, stage business. Theater. a movement or gesture, esp. a minor one, used by an actor to give expressiveness, drama, detail, etc., to a scene or to help portray a character. |
| 11. | excrement: used as a euphemism. |
| 12. | of, noting, or pertaining to business, its organization, or its procedures. |
| 13. | containing, suitable for, or welcoming business or commerce: New York is a good business town. |
| 14. | business is business, profit has precedence over personal considerations: He is reluctant to fire his friend, but business is business. |
| 15. | do one's business, (usually of an animal or child) to defecate or urinate: housebreaking a puppy to do his business outdoors. |
| 16. | get down to business, to apply oneself to serious matters; concentrate on work: They finally got down to business and signed the contract. |
| 17. | give someone the business, Informal.
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| 18. | have no business, to have no right: You have no business coming into this house. |
| 19. | mean business, to propose to take action or be serious in intent; be in earnest: By the fire in his eye we knew that he meant business. |
| 20. | mind one's own business, to refrain from meddling in the affairs of others: When he inquired about the noise coming from the neighbor's apartment, he was told to mind his own business. |
—Synonyms 1. calling, vocation, employment. See occupation. 2. commerce, trade, traffic. 3. company, firm.
—Pronunciation note See isn't.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| busi·ness
(bĭz'nĭs) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English businesse, from bisi, busy; see busy.] Synonyms: These nouns apply to forms of activity that have the objective of supplying commodities. Business pertains broadly to commercial, financial, and industrial activity: decided to go into the oil business. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
business
business
O.E. bisignisse (Northumbrian) "care, anxiety," from bisig "careful, anxious, busy, occupied" (see busy) + -ness. Sense of "work, occupation" is first recorded 1387. Sense of "trade, commercial engagements" is first attested 1727. Modern two-syllable pronunciation is 17c. Business card first attested 1840.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| business | |
noun | |
| 1. | a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it; "he bought his brother's business"; "a small mom-and-pop business"; "a racially integrated business concern" |
| 2. | the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects; "computers are now widely used in business" [syn: commercial enterprise] |
| 3. | the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money; "he's not in my line of business" [syn: occupation] |
| 4. | a rightful concern or responsibility; "it's none of your business"; "mind your own business" |
| 5. | an immediate objective; "gossip was the main business of the evening" |
| 6. | the volume of commercial activity; "business is good today"; "show me where the business was today" |
| 7. | business concerns collectively; "Government and business could not agree" |
| 8. | customers collectively; "they have an upper class clientele" [syn: clientele] |
| 9. | incidental activity performed by an actor for dramatic effect; "his business with the cane was hilarious" |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This
business
In addition to the idiom beginning with business, also see funny business; get down to (business); go about (one's business); have no business doing; land-office business; like mad (nobody's business); make it one's business; mean business; mind one's own business; monkey business; none of one's business; out of business; send someone about his or her business; the business.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Business
Busi"ness\, n.; pl. Businesses. [From Busy.]1. That which busies one, or that which engages the time, attention, or labor of any one, as his principal concern or interest, whether for a longer or shorter time; constant employment; regular occupation; as, the business of life; business before pleasure. Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? --Luke ii. 49. 2. Any particular occupation or employment engaged in for livelihood or gain, as agriculture, trade, art, or a profession. "The business of instruction." --Prescott. 3. Financial dealings; buying and selling; traffic in general; mercantile transactions. It seldom happens that men of a studious turn acquire any degree of reputation for their knowledge of business. --Bp. Popteus. 4. That which one has to do or should do; special service, duty, or mission. The daughter of the King of France, On serious business, craving quick despatch, Importunes personal conference. --Shak. What business has the tortoise among the clouds? --L'Estrange. 5. Affair; concern; matter; -- used in an indefinite sense, and modified by the connected words. It was a gentle business, and becoming The action of good women. --Shak. Bestow Your needful counsel to our business. --Shak. 6. (Drama) The position, distribution, and order of persons and properties on the stage of a theater, as determined by the stage manager in rehearsal. 7. Care; anxiety; diligence. [Obs.] --Chaucer. To do one's business, to ruin one. [Colloq.] --Wycherley. To make (a thing) one's business, to occupy one's self with a thing as a special charge or duty. [Colloq.] To mean business, to be earnest. [Colloq.] Syn: Affairs; concern; transaction; matter; engagement; employment; calling; occupation; trade; profession; vocation; office; duty.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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