something that incites or tends to incite to action or greater effort, as a reward offered for increased productivity.
adjective
2.
inciting, as to action; stimulating; provocative.
Origin: 1400–50;late Middle English < Late Latinincentīvus provocative, Latin: setting the tune, equivalent to incent(us) (past participle of incinere to play (an instrument, tunes); in-in-2 + -cinere, combining form of canere to sing) + -īvus-ive
early 15c., from L.L. incentivum, noun use of neut. L. adj. incentivus "setting the tune" (in L.L. "inciting"), from stem of incinere "strike up," from in- "in, into" + canere "sing" (see chant). Sense influenced by association with incendere "to kindle." The adjective use,
in reference to a system of rewards meant to encourage harder work, first attested 1943 in jargon of the U.S. war economy; as a noun, in this sense, from 1948.
n. cocaine. (Drugs. See also initiative.) : Maybe a little of that incentive would make me work harder.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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