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cost - 11 dictionary results

cost

  [kawst, kost] noun, verb, cost or, for 10–12, cost⋅ed, cost⋅ing.
Use cost in a Sentence
–noun
1. the price paid to acquire, produce, accomplish, or maintain anything: the high cost of a good meal.
2. an outlay or expenditure of money, time, labor, trouble, etc.: What will the cost be to me?
3. a sacrifice, loss, or penalty: to work at the cost of one's health.
4. costs, Law.
a. money allowed to a successful party in a lawsuit in compensation for legal expenses incurred, chargeable to the unsuccessful party.
b. money due to a court or one of its officers for services in a cause.
–verb (used with object)
5. to require the payment of (money or something else of value) in an exchange: That camera cost $200.
6. to result in or entail the loss of: Carelessness costs lives.
7. to cause to lose or suffer: The accident cost her a broken leg.
8. to entail (effort or inconvenience): Courtesy costs little.
9. to cause to pay or sacrifice: That request will cost us two weeks' extra work.
10. to estimate or determine the cost of (manufactured articles, new processes, etc.).
–verb (used without object)
11. to estimate or determine costs, as of manufacturing something.
—Verb phrase
12. cost out, to calculate the cost of (a project, product, etc.) in advance: to cost out a major construction project.
—Idiom
13. at all costs, regardless of the effort involved; by any means necessary: The stolen painting must be recovered at all costs. Also, at any cost.
Origin:
1200–50; (v.) ME costen < AF, OF co(u)ster < L constāre to stand together, be settled, cost; cf. constant; (n.) ME < AF, OF, n. deriv. of the v.

Related forms:
costless, adjective
cost⋅less⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. charge, expense, expenditure, outlay. See price. 3. detriment.

cost-

 
var. of costo- before a vowel: costate.

costo-

 
a combining form meaning “rib,” used in the formation of compound words: costoclavicular.
Also, especially before a vowel, cost-.

Origin:
< L cost(a) rib (see costa ) + -o-
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cost   (kôst)   
n.  
  1. An amount paid or required in payment for a purchase; a price.
  2. The expenditure of something, such as time or labor, necessary for the attainment of a goal: "Freedom to advocate unpopular causes does not require that such advocacy be without cost" (Milton Friedman).
  3. costs Law The charges fixed for litigation, often payable by the losing party.
v.   cost, cost·ing, costs

v.   intr.
To require a specified payment, expenditure, effort, or loss: It costs more to live in the city.
v.   tr.
  1. To have as a price.
  2. To cause to lose, suffer, or sacrifice: Participating in the strike cost me my job.
  3. past tense and past participle costed To estimate or determine the cost of: The accountants costed out our expenses.

[Middle English, from Old French, from coster, to cost, from Latin cōnstāre, to be fixed, cost; see constant.]
cost'less adj.
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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Cost

Cost\ (k?st; 115), n. [L. costa rib. See Coast.]

1. A rib; a side; a region or coast. [Obs.] --Piers Plowman.

Betwixt the costs of a ship. --B. Jonson.

2. (Her.) See Cottise.

Cost

Cost\ (k[o^]st; 115), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cost; p. pr. & vb. n. Costing.] [OF. coster, couster, F. co[^u]ter, fr. L. constare to stand at, to cost; con- + stare to stand. See Stand, and cf. Constant.]

1. To require to be given, expended, or laid out therefor, as in barter, purchase, acquisition, etc.; to cause the cost, expenditure, relinquishment, or loss of; as, the ticket cost a dollar; the effort cost his life.

A diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats. --Shak.

Though it cost me ten nights' watchings. --Shak.

2. To require to be borne or suffered; to cause.

To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. --Milton.

To cost dear, to require or occasion a large outlay of money, or much labor, self-denial, suffering, etc.

Cost

Cost\, n. [OF. cost, F. co[^u]t. See Cost, v. t. ]

1. The amount paid, charged, or engaged to be paid, for anything bought or taken in barter; charge; expense; hence, whatever, as labor, self-denial, suffering, etc., is requisite to secure benefit.

One day shall crown the alliance on 't so please you, Here at my house, and at my proper cost. --Shak.

At less cost of life than is often expended in a skirmish, [Charles V.] saved Europe from invasion. --Prescott.

2. Loss of any kind; detriment; pain; suffering.

I know thy trains, Though dearly to my cost, thy gins and toils. --Milton.

3. pl. (Law) Expenses incurred in litigation.

Note: Costs in actions or suits are either between attorney and client, being what are payable in every case to the attorney or counsel by his client whether he ultimately succeed or not, or between party and party, being those which the law gives, or the court in its discretion decrees, to the prevailing, against the losing, party.

Bill of costs. See under Bill.

Cost free, without outlay or expense. "Her duties being to talk French, and her privileges to live cost free and to gather scraps of knowledge." --Thackeray.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : cost
Spanish: costar,
German: kosten,
Japanese: 費用が～かかる
More Translations »

cost 
c.1200, from O.Fr. coster, from V.L. *costare, from L. constare "to stand at" (or with), from com- "with" + stare "to stand," from PIE base *sta- "to stand" (see stet). The idiom is the same one we use in Mod.E. when we say something "stands at X dollars" to mean it sells for X dollars.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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cost

The expenditure of funds or use of property to acquire or produce a product or service. See also average cost, fixed cost, historical cost, marginal cost, replacement cost, variable cost.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Main Entry: cost
Function: noun
1 : the amount or equivalent paid or charged for something
2 plural : expenses incurred in litigation; especially : those given by the law or the court to the prevailing party against the losing party
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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cost

see arm and a leg, cost an; at all costs; pretty penny, cost a.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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