COST

Cost

In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is counted as cost. In this case, money is the input that is gone in order to acquire the thing. This acquisition cost may be the sum of the cost of production as incurred by the original producer, and further costs of transaction as incurred by the acquirer over and above the price paid to the producer. Usually, the price also includes a mark-up for profit over the cost of production.

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cost

Noun

  1. Manner; way; means; available course; contrivance.
    at all costs (= "by all means")
  2. Quality; condition; property; value; worth; a wont or habit; disposition; nature; kind; characteristic.

Noun (etymology 2)

  1. Amount of money, time, etc. that is required or used.
  2. A negative consequence or loss that occurs or is required to occur.

Noun (etymology 3)

  1. A rib; a side.
  2. A cottise.

Verb

See Usage notes.
  1. To incur a charge; to require payment of a price.
    This shirt cost $50, while this was cheaper at only $30.
    It will cost you a lot of money to take a trip around the world.
  2. To cause something to be lost; to cause the expenditure or relinquishment of.
    Trying to rescue the man from the burning building cost them their lives.
  3. To require to be borne or suffered; to cause.
  4. To calculate or estimate a price.
    I'd cost the repair work at a few thousand.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: cost
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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