▪ I. expense
(ɛkˈspɛns)
Forms: 4–9 expence, 5 expens, exspense, 6 exspence, 4– expense. See also spence.
[a. AF. expense (OF. espense), ad. late L. expēnsa, orig. pa. pple. fem. of expendĕre: see expend. Cf. Sp. expensas pl., also It. spesa, which is the only popular representative of the word in Romanic, the Fr. and Sp. forms being of learned origin.
Ger. speise ‘viand’ is an early adoption of the L. word.]
† 1. The action of expending; the state of being expended. Obs. Cf. expenditure 1. † a. Disbursement, spending, laying out (of money); an instance of this. Also occas. wasteful expenditure, extravagance. person of expense: one who spends largely; so also, person of great, little expense. Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 153 That he mesure in his expence So kepe, that of indigence He may be sauf. c 1430 Compl. Christ 169 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 179 My waast expensis y wole with-drawe. 1597 Bacon Ess., Expense (Arb.) 50 Extraordinarie Expence must bee limited by the worth of the occasion. 1633 Ford 'Tis Pity v, This suddaine solemne Feast Was not ordayn'd to riott in expence. 1644 Quarles Barnabas & B. (1851) 18 God is not honored in the expense of that money which is bedewed with the tears of the oppressed. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 130 A man of great expence. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 26 ¶3 This exuberance of money displayed itself in wantonness of expence. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) I. iv. 141 All of them..dread a woman of expence. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 267 An obscure house of entertainment for persons of small expence. |
† b. The expending or using up (of material or immaterial resources); the state of being expended or used up; expenditure (of substance, strength, labour, time, etc.); loss (of blood, etc., of men in battle, etc.).
Obs.| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 523, I implore so much expence of thy royall sweet breath, as will vtter a brace of words. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. xi. (1611) 36 With bootlesse expense of trauell. 1608 Yorksh. Trag. i. x. 218 My body..is yet faint With much expense of blood. 1626 Bacon Sylva §352 Fire and Flame are in continual expence. 1647 Sprigge Anglia Rediv. i. ii. (1854) 14 After the expense of about fourteen men upon it, the design was given over. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 293 They..move as other Meteors do, from a certain expence of their own substance the one way, which inforceth their motion another. 1749 Power Pros. Numbers 70 The former require too great Expense of Breath to pronounce them. 1752 Franklin Wks. 1840 V. 286 The sun is not wasted by expense of light. 1797 Nelson 23 June in Nicolas Disp. (1846) XII. p. cxliv, No service that could have made an expense [of stores]. |
† c. Consumption (of produce, provisions).
Obs.| 1587 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 156 The gentlemen commonlie make sufficient malt for their owne expenses onelie. 1594 in Arb. Garner I. 299 Proclamations for the expense and observation of Fish Days. 1668 Markham's Way to Wealth ix. iii. i. 96 To gather [Pears] for expence, for transportation, or to sell. |
† d. Loss (of a possession).
Obs.| 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xxx. 8 Then can I..mone th' expence of many a vanished sight. 1607 Tourneur Rev. Trag. i. iii, Enter upon..Her honour, which she calls her chastity, And bring it into expence. |
† 2. Money expended (
cf. expenditure 2); a sum expended.
Obs. (The apparent instances in recent use belong to 3 or 3 c.)
| 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxi. 19 That he restore..the expensis into leches. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 32 If a Kyng be powre, he schal by necessite make his Expences..by Creaunce of borrowyng. 1673 Temple Ess. Irel. Wks. 1731 I. 111 The Country loses the Expence of many of the richest Persons. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. vii. (1691) 103 Where a People thrive, there the income is greater than the expence. 1737 Whiston Josephus' Antiq. xi. iv. §9 You..do not supply them with the expences..for their sacrifices. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. iii. (ed. 2) 402 The difference betwixt these, is the expense which the farmer may lay out. |
| transf. 1692 Ray Dissol. World ii. ii. (1732) 78 The Receipts from the Rivers fall short of the Expence in Vapour. 1693 Phil. Trans. XVII. 616 As to the Expence of the Sea-Water by Vapour, he concludes the Receipts of the Mediterranean to fall short of its expence. |
3. a. Burden of expenditure; the pecuniary charge, cost, or sacrifice involved in any course of action, mode of living, etc., or requisite for the attainment of any object. Also
transf. [Originally a contextual use of 1.]
| 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 27 Many companies of souldiers to be levied..without a penny of expence, of either his, or his complices. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 102 ¶11, I have several little plain Fans made for this Use, to avoid expence. 1799 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 277 The direct tax and stamp tax will add two millions clear of expence. 1808 A. Parsons Trav. iii. 65 Those who can afford the expence, usually go to some part of the sea coast. 1851 C. J. Apperley Chase, Turf, etc. 62 All got up ‘regardless of expense’. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits. Char. Wks. (Bohn) II. 62 The scale of expense on which people live. 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 135 A long list of legal expenses. |
| fig. 1839 De Quincey Recollect. Lakes Wks. (1862) II. 214 Who took upon herself the whole expenses of the flying colloquies exchanged with stragglers on the road. |
b. Phrases.
† to lie at expense: (of a prisoner) to be a cause of outlay.
at an expense of: at a cost or loss amounting to.
at the expense of: at the cost of (a certain sum), by the sacrifice of (something); so
at (a) great, little, etc. expense.
to be at expense: to incur expenditure; so,
to put (a person) to expense.
to be at the expense, expenses (of): to defray the costs (of); also
const. to with
inf.| a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) 41 Now what expence soever he is at, he proclaimeth. 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 6 He lies at expense. I move therefore, to call him in. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 262 ¶3 The new Pair of Gloves and Coach-hire that he was at the Expence of in her Service. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 153 Some part of that mer one Mr. Fleetewood has been at the Expence to draine. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 418 ¶7 He is at no more Expence in a long Vista, than a short one. 1713 Guardian No. 9 ¶4 Where, at the expence of 4 or 5000l...he built a new one. 1765 H. Walpole Otranto iii. (1798) 62 Vowing to guard the princess at the expence of his life. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. i. i. 254 We have been at such expence and trouble. 1793 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 160 All operations between the tropics are at an immense expense of human lives. 1859 Musketry Instruct. 52 At a considerable expense, to erect marker's butts. 1882 Daily Tel. 12 June, The home eleven had got 52 at an expense of two wickets. |
c. In
pl. esp.: The charges, costs, items of outlay, incurred by a person in the execution of any commission or duty; ‘money out of pocket’; also, money paid to a person in reimbursement of these.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Macc. x. 44 Expensis shuln be ȝouen of the kyngies resoun..to bilde out the wallis of Jerusalem. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 198 The old Edward had every month to his expensis a hundred mark. 1535 Coverdale Jer. xl. 5 The chefe captayne gaue him his expenses with a rewarde. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. i. 49 There's expences for thee. 1656 Manasseh ben Israel Vind. Judæorum in Phenix (1708) II. 410 Of the Tribute, Expences should be forthwith given unto the Elders. Mod. You will allow me my expenses. |
d. A cause or occasion of expense. Also
transf.| 1873 H. Spencer Study Sociol. iii. 51 Exertion is a physiological expense. Mod. His sons have been a great expense to him. |
4. a. at († on) the expense († expenses) of a person, etc.: so that he defrays the cost; ‘at the charges of’.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xx. 221 The grete Chane haþ euery day folk at His costages & expense. c 1477 Caxton Jason 69 Appollo dide do make the arke..at the expensis of the king. 1549 Compl. Scot. xi. 89 He furnest..tua hundretht lycht horse, on his auen expensis. 1609 Shakes. Per. iv. iii. 46 Us, At whose expense 'tis done. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. iii. 456 Lawyers have more sober sense Than to argue at their own expence. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece iii. ii. (1715) 7 The Soldiers were all maintain'd at their own Expences. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 67 Our piscator..declined dining at our expense. 1873 Act 36–7 Vict. c. 71 §59 The Secretary of State may..cause any water-course to be widened at the expense of such board. |
b. transf. at the expense of a person (or thing): so that he (or it) suffers consequent loss, injury, or diminution.
| 1695 Ld. Preston Boeth. Pref. 6 And so, at his Expence, advance a little Trophy of Reputations to themselves. 1754 Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. xiii. 344 Gratify our Envy at the Expence of our Neighbour's Reputation. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 189 The copper wires..were oxidized at the expence of the acid. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. Ind. II. v. ix. 711 The interest of the subordinates..is..pursued at the expense of the service. 1849 Robertson Serm. Ser. i. vii. (1866) 120 There was obedience at the expense of..feeling. 1879 M. Arnold Mixed Ess. 234 But the lovers of Hampden cannot forbear to extol him at Falkland's expense. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. expense-reforming,
expense-saving adjs.;
expense account,
sheet, an account of expenses or expenditure;
spec. an account of the expenses incurred by an employee in the course of his work and payable by his employer(s); also, the money so paid;
freq. attrib.;
expense-book,
Naut. (see
quot. 1867);
expense magazine, a magazine in which a small portion of ammunition is kept for immediate use.
| 1872 Raymond Mines 284 The item of roads is a big one in the expense account. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt x. 141 It went down on my expense-account—gosh, if I'd been paying it instead of the firm, I'd 'a' tramped the streets all night. 1933 J. B. Priestley Wonder Hero iii. 68 What about a quick drink and then some lunch?..It'll all go down on my expense account to the paper. 1937 W. S. Maugham Theatre ix. 75 When he directed a play he put down on the expense account the fee that a director of the second rank would have received. 1953 ‘S. Ransome’ Drag Dark (1954) xi. 119 They went off together{ddd}To lunch. Nice, expense-account place. 1959 R. Postgate Good Food Guide 1959–1960 87 Offering a good, soigné, ‘expense-account’ type menu. Ibid. 222 Designed in menu and price for business executives with expense accounts. Ibid. 387 The eaters were given precisely the same attentive service as the expense-account-wallahs. 1970 New Yorker 15 Aug. 66/2 Pills for expense-account indigestion. |
| 1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 80 Expence Books. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk, Expense books, accounts of the expenditure of the warrant officer's stores, attested by the signing officers. |
| 1839 W. F. Napier Penins. War xiii. v, The explosion of an expense magazine. 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 174 There are, also, branch or expense magazines in the outworks. |
| 1880 Fortn. Rev. Feb. 267 Any expense-reforming proposal meets with scant courtesy from the House. |
| 1942 G. Greene Brit. Dramatists 18 The scenes of Tamburlaine, unlimited by pasteboard sets and an expense-sheet, shifted boldly all over Asia. 1945 J. B. Priestley Three Men in New Suits v. 91 We'll pay you thirty-five pounds a week and give you a reasonable expense sheet. |
▪ II. expense, v. Accounting (
orig. U.S.).
(
ɛkˈspɛns)
[f. expense n.] trans. a. To charge (a company or business) with expenses incurred in the execution of a commission.
b. To offset (an amount expended on equipment, operational costs, etc.) as an expense against taxable income over a given period.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl., Expense,..to charge or debit with an item of incurred expense to be collected from the proper party and accounted for by the chargee. 1928 Funk's Stand. Dict. s.v., Expense this office with charges. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §551/8 Expense, to charge for expenses. 1957 Clark & Gottfried University Dict. Business & Finance (1967) 142/2 Depreciation charges on the equipment over its life are usually expensed to successive accounting periods. 1965 Economist 23 Jan. 352/1 If the royalty is ‘expensed’, i.e. deducted from the profit before assessment to tax then the tax payable becomes 50{pcnt} of [etc.]. 1970 R. W. Wallis Accounting ii. 25 Assets held prior to their being expensed may be subtracted from assets held after revenue has been earned in order to compute income. 1987 N.Y. Times 7 Oct. d23/1 An approximately $50,000 after-tax loss on discontinued operations which was expensed in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1987, contributed to its earnings decline. |