Busi"ness (&?;), n.;
pl. Businesses (&?;). [From
Busy.]
1. That which busies one, or that which engages the time, attention, or labor of any one, as his principal concern or interest, whether for a longer
or shorter time; constant employment; regular occupation; as, the business of life; business before pleasure.
Wist ye not that I must be about
my Father's
business?
Luke ii. 49.
2.
Any particular occupation or employment engaged in for livelihood or gain, as agriculture, trade, art, or a profession. "The business of instruction." Prescott.
3. Financial dealings;
buying and selling; traffic
in general; mercantile transactions.
It seldom
happens that men of a studious
turn acquire any degree of
reputation for their knowledge of business.
Bp.
Popteus.
4. That which one has to do or should
do; special service, duty, or mission.
The daughter
of the King
of France,
On serious business, craving quick despatch,
Importunes personal conference.
Shak.
What
business has the tortoise among the clouds?
L'Estrange.
5. Affair; concern; matter; -- used in an indefinite sense, and modified by the connected words.
It was a gentle business, and becoming
The action of
good women.
Shak.
Bestow
Your needful counsel to our business.
Shak.
6. (Drama) The position, distribution, and order of persons and properties on the stage of
a theater, as determined by the stage
manager in rehearsal.
7. Care; anxiety; diligence. [Obs.] Chaucer.
To do one's business, to ruin one. [Colloq.]
Wycherley. -- To make
(a thing) one's business, to occupy one's
self with a
thing as a special charge or duty. [Colloq.] -- To mean business, to be earnest. [Colloq.]
Syn. -- Affairs; concern; transaction; matter; engagement; employment; calling; occupation; trade; profession; vocation; office; duty.
Hear it pronounced