economy
(ɪˈkɒnəmɪ, ɛ-)
Forms: 6 econ-, yconomie, 7 œconomie, (7, 8 æconomy), 7–9 œconomy, 7– economy.
[ad. L. œconomia, ad. Gr. οἰκονοµία, f. οἰκονόµος one who manages a household (usu. spec. a steward), f. οἶκο-ς house + -νόµος, f. νέµειν to manage, control. The Gr. οἰκονόµος was adopted in classical Lat. as œconomus, but seems to have been re-introduced into med.L. from contemporary Gr. (in an ecclesiastical sense) with the phonetic spelling yconomus, whence the early Fr. and Eng. yconomie as forms of this word.
In Christian Latin the accepted transl. of οἰκονοµία was dispensatio (cf. L. dispensator = Gr. οἰκονόµος steward); hence in certain Theol. senses economy and dispensation are used convertibly.]
I. Management of a house; management generally.
† 1. a. The art or science of managing a household, esp. with regard to household expenses. Obs. exc. in phrase domestic economy.
| c 1530 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 29 The Doctrynal Princyplis and Proverbys Yconomie, or Howsolde keepyng. [1580 North Plutarch 303 A part whereof is Oeconomia, commonly called House-rule.] 1673 Marvell Reh. Transp. II. 255 You have contrary to..good œconomy made a snow-house in your upper Roome. |
b. The manner in which a household, or a person's private expenditure, is ordered. arch.
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 50 ¶3 His Equipage and Oeconomy had something in them..sumptuous. a 1723 S. Centlivre Artifice iv. (D.) He ought to be very rich, whose œconomy is so profuse. 1727 Pope Th. Var. Subj. in Swift's Wks. 1755 II. i. 229 Three great ministers, who could exactly compute..the accompts of a kingdom, but were wholly ignorant of their own œconomy. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xlix. 372 Impertinence..to watch over the œconomy of private people. 1825–45 Carlyle Schiller ii. (ed. 2) 70 If you could find me any person that would undertake my small economy. |
† c. concr. A society ordered after the manner of a family. Obs.
| 1751 Wesley Wks. (1872) II. 249 At Holbeck we..had an economy of young men. |
† d. The rules which control a person's mode of living; regimen, diet. Obs. rare.
| 1735 Barber in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 85 The œconomy you are under must necessarily preserve your life many years. |
2. a. In a wider sense: The administration of the concerns and resources of any community or establishment with a view to orderly conduct and productiveness; the art or science of such administration. Frequently specialized by the use of adjectives, as Domestic, Naval, Rural, etc. So † charitable economy [in Fr. économie charitable]: the management of charitable institutions.
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxiii. 124 Special Administration..at home, for the Oeconomy of a Common-wealth. 1691 T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent. 117 Of Naval Oeconomy or Husbandry. 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 344 'Twould have been bad Oeconomy to make such an use of them [Cushions]. 1772 Pennant Tours Scotl. (1774) 194 Rural æconomy is but at a low ebb here. 1778 Robertson Hist. Amer. I. iv. 320 The functions in domestic œconomy are many, which fall to the share of women. 1801 Mrs. Trimmer (title), Oeconomy of Charity, or an address to Ladies adapted to the present state of charitable institutions. 1863 P. Barry (title), Dockyard Economy and Naval Power. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xix. 455 Articles..employed in the..economy of agricultural operations. |
b. esp. Management of money, or of the finances.
| 1741 Betterton in Oldys Eng. Stage II. 7 It was not the only erroneous Instance of his Oeconomy. 1796 Burke Let. Noble Ld. Wks. VIII. 23 A system of œconomy which would make a random expence..not easily practicable. |
3. political economy [transl. Fr. économie politique]: originally the art or practical science of managing the resources of a nation so as to increase its material prosperity; in more recent use, the theoretical science dealing with the laws that regulate the production and distribution of wealth.
| 1767 Sir J. Stewart (title), An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. iv. Introd. II. 3 Political œconomy..proposes two distinct objects..to provide a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people..and..to supply the state..with a revenue sufficient for the publick services. 1825 M{supc}Culloch Pol. Econ. i. §1. 1 Political Economy is the science of the laws which regulate the production, distribution, and consumption of those articles or products which have exchangeable value, and are either necessary, useful, or agreeable to man. a 1830 Sir J. Sinclair Corr. (1831) II. 125 The French have long distinguished themselves by their knowledge of political economy. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. i. (ed. 3) 2 The subject of a treatise on political economy is, the services which men render to each other; but those services only on which a price can be put. |
4. Careful management of resources, so as to make them go as far as possible. a. with reference to money and material wealth: Frugality, thrift, saving. Sometimes euphemistically for: Parsimony, niggardliness.
| 1670 Cotton Espernon i. ii. 62 Men have..been very liberal in their censure of the Duke's Oeconomy. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. x. (1704) III. 88 Nor was this Oeconomy well liked even in France. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 162 The luxury of Britain did not teach him [Holbein] more oeconomy than he had practised in his own country. 1770 Jas. Harris in Priv. Lett. 1st Ld. Malmesbury I. 196 There can be no independence without economy. 1863 Froude Hist. Eng. VII. 5 The economy with which [Q.] Mary had commenced her reign had been sacrificed to superstition. |
b. concr. An instance or a means of saving or thrift; a saving.
| 1788 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 389 The suppression of the packets is one of the economies in contemplation. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. xiii. (1876) 10 Improved breeds of horses, cattle..are really economies. 1876 Times 4 Oct., [The Railway Company] has only been saved from utter bankruptcy by economies. |
c. with reference to immaterial things, as time, personal ability, labour, etc.
| 1862 Darwin Fertil. Orchids vi. 275 The economy shown by nature in her resources is striking. 1875 Hamerton Intell. Life iii. vii. 107 To read a language that has been very imperfectly mastered is felt to be a bad economy of time. |
II. 5. Theol. a. The method of the divine government of the world, or of a specific department or portion of that government.
| 1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. i. §1. 28 All this is the method and Oeconomy of heaven. 1725 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. I. v. 127 The whole Oeconomy of our Salvation might be the better represented. 1814 Chalmers Evid. Chr. Revel. i. 15 That particular scheme of the divine economy which is revealed to us in the New Testament. 1879 Farrar St. Paul II. 226 The true theological position of the Law—its true position, that is, in the Divine œconomy of salvation. |
b. esp. A ‘dispensation’, a method or system of the divine government suited to the needs of a particular nation or period of time, as the Mosaic economy, Jewish economy, Christian economy.
| 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 516 Apol., Tending to the greater ornament and completeness of the Christian Oeconomy. 1698 Norris Pract. Disc. (1707) IV. 256 The Oeconomy of Faith should go before that of Vision. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes ii. 58 The Mosaical Oeconomy. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §4. 13 This Egyptian influence in the Mosaic Economy has been largely over-rated. 1862 Goulburn Pers. Relig. 97 The Economy of Grace. 1871 Macduff Mem. Patmos viii. 100 The twofold song descriptive of both economies. |
III. 6. a. Theol. [after Gr. οἰκονοµία in the late sense ‘politic administration’.] The judicious handling of doctrine, i.e. the presentation of it in such a manner as to suit the needs or to conciliate the prejudices of the persons addressed. b. This sense has been (by misapprehension or word-play) often treated as an application of 4. Hence the phrase economy of truth (as if ‘cautious or sparing use’).
Newman's history of the Arians (1833) contained a section on the use of ‘the Economy’ by the Fathers. The word was eagerly caught up by popular writers and used contemptuously, as if it were a euphemistic name for dishonest evasion; in this sense it is still freq. met with. The sense of οἰκονοµία to which Newman referred occurs freq. in Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzen; e.g. the former, commenting on the words ‘vain deceit’ (Col. ii. 8) says that some deceits are good, e.g. that practised by Jacob, which was οὐκ ἀπάτη ἀλλ' οἰκονοµία not a fraud but an ‘economy’. The ecclesiastical use of the word occurs in Fr. writers of the 17th and 18th c., and was ridiculed by Voltaire; hence the appearance of b so early as 1796. See also economic a. 5.
| a. 1833 J. H. Newman Arians i. §3 (1876) 65 The Economy is certainly sanctioned by St. Paul in his own conduct. To the Jews he became as a Jew, etc. 1841 ― Tracts for Times xc. (ed. 4) 83 What was an economy in the reformers, is a protection to us. 1885 E. S. Ffoulkes Prim. Consecration iv. 93 Whether S. Cyril pushed his economy—or, as it would now be called, his diplomacy—too far. |
| b. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 208 Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatever. But..there is an œconomy of truth..a sort of temperance, by which a man speaks truth with reason that he may continue to speak it the longer. Mod. ‘I do not impute falsehood to the Government, but I think there has been considerable economy of truth’. |
IV. Organization, like that of a household.
7. The structure, arrangement, or proportion of parts, of any product of human design. † a. spec. of a poem, play, etc. [Immediately from Gr. and Lat.] Obs.
| 1671 Milton Samson Introd., Such œconomy or disposition of the fable as may stand best with..decorum. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. Pref. (1721) I. 91 In this..Œconomy of a Poem, Virgil much excells Theocritus. |
b. gen.
| 1734 Watts Reliq. Juv. (1789) 217 An odd sort of elegance in the oeconomy of her table. 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 311 The Crossings of Stairs..would confound the Oeconomy of the Building. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) II. xxxvii. 21 The œconomy of the table was recomposed. 1756 Colman & Thornton Connoisseur No. 103 That the oeconomy of the beaufait..may not be disarranged. |
8. In wider sense: The organization, internal constitution, apportionment of functions, of any complex unity. † a. of the Trinity. Obs.
| 1592 tr. Junius on Rev. iv. 2 According to the œconomie or dispensation thereof [of the divine essence]. 1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. i. §3. 46 For now we are to consider how his natural body enters into this œconomy and dispensation. 1720 Waterland Eight Serm. 268 This Order and Oeconomy, observable in the Persons of the Sacred Trinity. |
b. of an individual body or mind. Sometimes concr. (like ‘system’) for the body as an organized whole.
| 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. (1682) 176 The whole Oeconomy of the body. a 1704 T. Brown Praise of Pov. Wks. 1730 I. 95 The whole oeconomy of their brain is corrupted. 1752 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 192 With regard to the œconomy of the mind..all vice is indeed pernicious. 1880 J. W. Legg Bile 193 An effort of the œconomy to eject the poison. |
c. of the material creation or its subdivisions, as in phrases, animal economy, vegetable economy, economy of nature.
| 1658 R. White tr. Digby's Powd. Symp. (1660) 53 Within the course and œconomy of nature. 1710 Shaftesbury Charac. ii. §1 (1737) II. i. 19 An Animal-Order or Oeconomy, according to which the Animal Affairs are regulated and dispos'd. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. Introd. 2 They..had no idea..of the vegetable oeconomy. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. v. (1814) 209 Water is absolutely necessary to the economy of vegetation. 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. ii. ii. 174 We will retire to its forests to collect and examine the economy of its most rare and beautiful birds. |
d. of human society as a whole, or of any particular community.
| 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. (1682) 16 Nor will [heads that are disposed unto schism] be ever confined unto the order or œconomy of one body. 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. v. §2. 75 In old time there was a manner of living, and as it were a certain œconomy..living by Rapine. 1712 Spect. No. 404 ¶1 In the Dispositions of Society, the civil Œconomy is formed in a chain as well as the natural. 1815 Dk. York Let. in Gurw. Disp. Wellington X. 4 Your..attention must..be directed to..the interior economy of the different corps. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 67/2 This real value in the economy of society is not disparaged. |
9. economy-size, applied attrib., esp. in Advertising, to objects which are sold in a size that is said to be economically advantageous to the customer; also economy-sized adj.; also in extended uses. orig. U.S.
In practice freq. but not always the largest packet, etc., in a series.
| 1950 R. P. Bissell Stretch on River xix. 185 The only trouble with the economy size tube of shaving cream is that it takes up more room in the valise than a pair of rubber boots. 1953 Harper's Mag. Mar. 100 [His] mother..treats him as something between a lapel ornament, a trained marmoset, and an economy-sized male escort. 1955 N.Y. Herald-Tribune 12 Nov., Lou Gehrig had just hit a large economy-size home run into the right-field bleachers. Ibid. 1 Dec. ii. 1/5 The investigators managed to arrange ‘economy sized package deals which included a little bit of everything’. 1957 Wodehouse Over Seventy v. 65 It was a bear. And not a small bear either. One of the large economy size. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 May 281/3 Another giant, economy-size book about the hard lot of Scandinavian females in the bad old days! 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File vi. 36 Economy-sized cafés. 1962 Times 17 Oct. 13/3 ‘Economy’ sized cars. 1966 H. Yoxall Fashion of Life xiv. 134 The small tube [of shaving cream] is called ‘large’,..we have a medium tube called ‘king size’, and a large tube called ‘economy size’. |
10. attrib. or as adj. Designating consumer products, services, etc., which are designed to be cheaper or more efficient for the customer, as economy car, economy fare, etc.; also, that enables one to make economies.
| 1821 M. Wilmot Let. 21 Dec. (1935) 149 One of the œconomy Leghorn hats, intended to be cut in two on arriving in England. 1908 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 19 The Economy cream separator saves $1500 yearly on each cow. 1944 A. Thirkell Headmistress xi. 237 She..licked the so-called economy label that was to take the envelope back to its sender. 1959 ASTA Travel News Feb. 140 (Advt.), Full tourist savings 30% to 50% under lowest Economy Fares! 1959 World Air Transport Statistics iii. 38/1 Scheduled Operations..First..Tourist..Economy. 1963 Daily Tel. 13 May 12/2 A five per cent. increase in the cost of ‘economy-class’ travel across the Atlantic. 1967 Gloss. Terms Gas Industry (B.S.I.) 93 Economy valve, a valve which enables hot water to be stored either in part or the whole of the storage vessel. 1970 Times 3 Nov. 8/3 America's domestic airlines..are competing to see which can carry the fewest possible economy class passengers in the greatest possible comfort. 1976 Milton Keynes Express 28 May 49/1 (Advt.), Peugeot 104 Saloon 4-door, economy car in white, folding rear seat. 1984 Which? Jan. 19/3 E is an economy programme. Cost savings may result from reduced wash temperature. |
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▸ economy class syndrome n. colloq. deep-vein thrombosis attributed to prolonged immobility on long-haul flights (so called because the reduced legroom in economy class is considered by some to be a possible contributory factor).
| 1977 Brit. Jrnl. Dis. Chest 71 140 The term ‘*economy class syndrome’ has been used to describe the venous problems caused by the cramped seating arrangements in modern aircraft. 1985 Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica 151 643 (title) Female neuropathy following anticoagulant therapy for ‘economy class syndrome’ in a young woman. 2002 Times 4 Apr. 32/3 The expression ‘economy class syndrome’ should not be used. Anybody who travels in a plane or who is immobile for a long period is at risk. |