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business - 6 dictionary results
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busi⋅ness

  [biz-nis]
Use business in a Sentence
–noun
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.
–adjective
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.
—Idioms
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.
a. to make difficulties for someone; treat harshly: Instead of a straight answer they give him the business with a needless run-around.
b. to scold severely; give a tongue-lashing to: The passengers will give the bus driver the business if he keeps driving so recklessly.
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.
Origin:
bef. 950; ME; OE bisignes. See busy, -ness

Synonyms:
1. calling, vocation, employment. See occupation. 2. commerce, trade, traffic. 3. company, firm.

Pronunciation note:
See isn't.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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busi·ness   (bĭz'nĭs)   
n.  
    1. The occupation, work, or trade in which a person is engaged: the wholesale food business.
    2. A specific occupation or pursuit: the best designer in the business.
    3. One's rightful or proper concern or interest: "The business of America is business" (Calvin Coolidge).
    4. Something involving one personally: It's none of my business.
  2. Commercial, industrial, or professional dealings: new systems now being used in business.
  3. A commercial enterprise or establishment: bought his uncle's business.
  4. Volume or amount of commercial trade: Business had fallen off.
  5. Commercial dealings; patronage: took her business to a trustworthy salesperson.
    1. One's rightful or proper concern or interest: "The business of America is business" (Calvin Coolidge).
    2. Something involving one personally: It's none of my business.
  7. Serious work or endeavor: got right down to business.
  8. An affair or matter: "We will proceed no further in this business" (Shakespeare).
  9. An incidental action performed by an actor on the stage to fill a pause between lines or to provide interesting detail.
  10. Informal Verbal abuse; scolding: gave me the business for being late.
  11. Obsolete The condition of being busy.

[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.
Industry entails the production and manufacture of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale: the computer industry.
Commerce and trade refer to the exchange and distribution of goods or commodities: laws regulating interstate commerce; involved in the domestic fur trade.
Traffic pertains in particular to businesses engaged in the transportation of goods or passengers: renovated the docks to attract shipping traffic.
The word may also suggest illegal trade: discovered a brisk traffic in stolen goods. See Also Synonyms at affair.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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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Language Translation for : business
Spanish: negocio,
German: das Geschäft,
Japanese: 商売
More Translations »

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
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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. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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business

The collapse of the subprime mortgage market by mid-2007, though long predicted, wreaked havoc on both the housing and financial industries (several major banks posted mortgage-related losses in the billions of dollars) and resulted in a major credit crunch that impaired many businesses' ability to secure short-term financing. (See Sidebar: United States.)

Learn more about business with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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