Search Result for "premiums": 

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Premium \Pre"mi*um\, n.; pl. Premiums. [L. praemium, originally, what one has got before or better than others; prae before + emere to take, buy. See Redeem.] 1. A reward or recompense; a prize to be won by being before another, or others, in a competition; reward or prize to be adjudged; a bounty; as, a premium for good behavior or scholarship, for discoveries, etc. [1913 Webster] To think it not the necessity, but the premium and privilege of life, to eat and sleep without any regard to glory. --Burke. [1913 Webster] The law that obliges parishes to support the poor offers a premium for the encouragement of idleness. --Franklin. [1913 Webster] 2. Something offered or given for the loan of money; bonus; -- sometimes synonymous with interest, but generally signifying a sum in addition to the capital. [1913 Webster] People were tempted to lend, by great premiums and large interest. --Swift. [1913 Webster] 3. A sum of money paid to underwriters for insurance, or for undertaking to indemnify for losses of any kind. [1913 Webster] 4. A sum in advance of, or in addition to, the nominal or par value of anything; as, gold was at a premium; he sold his stock at a premium. [1913 Webster]