See Also: Benefit(money)
benefit(1)(dictionary)
BENEFIT(law)
benefit(2)(dictionary)
Brock's benefit(dictionary)
cost-benefit(dictionary)
fringe benefit(dictionary)
sickness benefit(dictionary)
side benefit(dictionary)
child benefit(dictionary)

benefit(1) (iou)



benefit noun. LME.
[Anglo-Norman benfet, Old French bienfet, -fait ult. from Latin benefactum good deed, from bene facere: see BENEFACTION.]
A thing well done; a good deed. LME-E19.
A kind deed; a favour, gift; a benefaction. arch. LME.
Shakespeare As You Like It [Fortune's] benefits are mightily misplaced.
Law (now Hist.). The advantage of belonging to a privileged order exempted from the jurisdiction or sentence of ordinary courts of law. L15.
gen. (An) advantage, (a) good. E16.
S. Johnson Having long laboured for the benefit of mankind. J. F. Kennedy We have, however, one great advantage over the English. We have the benefit of their experience. B. Plain The..fancy decorated birthday cake was for the children's benefit. B. Bettelheim Whatever practical benefits may be derived from psychoanalysis, they are only incidental to its cultural achievements.
b. A natural advantage or gift. rare (Shakes.). L16-E17.
Shakespeare As You Like It Disable all the benefits of your own country.
c. Pecuniary profit. L16.
Steele My Estate is seven hundred Pounds a Year, besides the Benefit of Tin-Mines.
= BENEFICE noun 1. obsolete exc. dial. M16.
A theatrical performance, concert, sporting event, etc., the proceeds of which go to a player or other particular person or group; also, the proceeds from such a performance etc. E18.
benefit match, benefit performance, etc.
C. Chaplin Three months before I left the troupe we appeared at a benefit for my father. R. K. Narayan It was a benefit show for building a maternity home.
The allowance to which a person is entitled under a social security or insurance scheme or as the member of a benefit-club or benefit society. L19.
maternity benefit, retirement benefit, sickness benefit, supplementary benefit, unemployment benefit, etc.
Phrases: benefit of CLERGY. benefit of the doubt assumption of a person's innocence, rightness, etc., rather than the contrary in the absence of proof. fringe benefit: see FRINGE noun & adjective. on benefit supported by social security etc. payments. social benefit: see SOCIAL adjective.
Comb.: benefit-club, benefit society: whose members, by the regular payment of small sums, are entitled to pecuniary help in time of distress; benefit tourist colloq. a person who travels to or within Britain in order to live off social security payments while untruthfully claiming to be seeking work.