Word definition: cost

Etimology


From Middle English costen, from Old French coster, couster (“to cost”), from Medieval Latin cōstō, from Latin cōnstō (“stand together”).

verb


cost (third-person singular simple present costs, present participle costing, simple past and past participle cost or costed)

(transitive, ditransitive) To incur a charge of; to require payment of a (specified) price.

(transitive, ditransitive) To cause something to be lost; to cause the expenditure or relinquishment of.

To require to be borne or suffered; to cause.

To calculate or estimate a price.

(transitive, colloquial) To cost (a person) a great deal of money or suffering.

Examples


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.

Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; […].

Trying to rescue the man from the burning building cost them their lives.

the packaging of home-delivered products now accounts for 30% of the solid rubbish the US generates annually, and the cardboard alone costs 1bn trees.

though it cost me ten nights' watchings

to do him wanton rites, which cost them woe

LUKE: "That little droid is going to cost me a lot of trouble."

I'd cost the repair work at a few thousand.

I can give you the names, but it'll cost you.

That's going to cost you!

Etimology


From Middle English cost, coust, from costen (“to cost”), from the same source as above.

noun


cost (countable and uncountable, plural costs)

Amount of money, time, etc. that is required or used.

A negative consequence or loss that occurs or is required to occur.

Examples


The total cost of the new complex was an estimated $1.5 million.

We have to cut costs if we want to avoid bankruptcy.

The average cost of a new house is twice as much as it was 20 years ago.

According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.

Spending all your time working may earn you a lot of money at the cost of your health.

The army won the battle decisively, but at a cost of many lives.

Related words


hyponyms

accounting cost

actual cost

after-cost

appraisal cost

at any cost

at the cost of

carbon cost

closing cost

come at a cost

contingency cost

cost-benefit analysis

cost-book

cost-conscious

cost dear

cost-effectiveness

cost mark

cost object

cost of goods sold

cost oil

cost plus

cost-push inflation

direct cost

dollar cost averaging

dollar-cost averaging

fixed cost

flotation cost

flyaway cost

historical cost

indirect cost

landed cost

low cost carrier

marginal cost

marginal cost of capital

menu cost

negative cost

operating cost

opportunity cost

prime cost

private cost

should-cost

sunk cost

ultra low cost carrier

unexpired cost

unit cost

variable cost

weighted-average cost of capital

wellhead cost

related terms

at cost

cost and freight

cost avoidance

cost benefit analysis

cost center

cost centre

cost containment

cost control

cost cutting

cost objective

cost of business

cost of doing business

cost of living

cost of money

cost of sales

cost overrun

cost per available seat mile

cost price

design to cost

Etimology


From Middle English cost, from Old English cost (“option, choice, possibility, manner, way, condition”), from Old Norse kostr (“choice, opportunity, chance, condition, state, quality”), from Proto-Germanic *kustuz (“choice, trial”) (or Proto-Germanic *kustiz (“choice, trial”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵéwstus (“to enjoy, taste”). Cognate with Icelandic kostur, German dialectal Kust (“taste, flavour”), Dutch kust (“choice, choosing”), North Frisian kest (“choice, estimation, virtue”), West Frisian kêst (“article of law, statute”), Old English cyst (“free-will, choice, election, the best of anything, the choicest, picked host, moral excellence, virtue, goodness, generosity, munificence”), Latin gustus (“taste”). Related to choose. Doublet of gusto.

noun


cost (plural costs)

(obsolete) Manner; way; means; available course; contrivance.(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Quality; condition; property; value; worth; a wont or habit; disposition; nature; kind; characteristic.

Related words


related terms

costen

costning

needs-cost

Etimology


From Middle English coste, from Old French coste, from Latin costa. Doublet of coast and cuesta.

noun


cost (plural costs)

(obsolete) A rib; a side.

(heraldry) A cottise.

Examples


betwixt the costs of a ship

Coordinate terms: bendlet, garter, riband

Data provided by Wiktionary