Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
economy
e-con′o-my
(ē̍-kŏn′ō̍-my̆)
, Noun.
pl.
Economies
(ē̍-kŏn′ō̍-mĭz)
. 1.
The management of domestic affairs; the regulation and government of household matters; especially as they concern expense or disbursement;
as, a careful
. economy
Himself busy in charge of the household
economies
. Froude.
2.
Orderly arrangement and management of the internal affairs of a state or of any establishment kept up by production and consumption; esp., such management as directly concerns wealth;
as, political
. economy
3.
The system of rules and regulations by which anything is managed; orderly system of regulating the distribution and uses of parts, conceived as the result of wise and economical adaptation in the author, whether human or divine;
as, the animal or vegetable
economy
; the economy
of a poem; the Jewish economy
.The position which they [the verb and adjective] hold in the general
economy
of language. Earle.
In the Greek poets, as also in Plautus, we shall see the
economy
. . . of poems better observed than in Terence. B. Jonson.
The Jews already had a Sabbath, which, as citizens and subjects of that
economy
, they were obliged to keep. Paley.
4.
Thrifty and frugal housekeeping; management without loss or waste; frugality in expenditure; prudence and disposition to save;
as, a housekeeper accustomed to
. economy
but not to parsimony
Syn. –
Economy
, Frugality
, Parsimony
. Economy avoids all waste and extravagance, and applies money to the best advantage; frugality cuts off indulgences, and proceeds on a system of saving. The latter conveys the idea of not using or spending superfluously, and is opposed to lavishness or profusion. Frugality is usually applied to matters of consumption, and commonly points to simplicity of manners; parsimony is frugality carried to an extreme, involving meanness of spirit, and a sordid mode of living. Economy is a virtue, and parsimony a vice. I have no other notion of
economy
than that it is the parent to liberty and ease. Swift.
The father was more given to
frugality
, and the son to riotousness [luxuriousness]. Golding.
Webster 1828 Edition
Economy
ECON'OMY
,Noun.
1.
Primarily, the management, regulation and government of a family or the concerns of a household.2.
The management of pecuniary concerns or the expenditure of money. Hence,3.
A frugal and judicious use of money; that management which expends money to advantage,and incurs no waste; frugality in the necessary expenditure of money. It differs from parsimony, which implies an improper saving of expense. Economy includes also a prudent management of all the means by which property is saved or accumulated; a judicious application of time, of labor, and of the instruments of labor.4.
The disposition or arrangement of any work; as the economy of a poem.5.
A system of rules, regulations, rites and ceremonies; as the Jewish economy.6.
The regular operation of nature in the generation, nutrition and preservation of animals or plants; as animal economy; vegetable economy.7.
Distribution or due order of things.8.
Judicious and frugal management of public affairs; as political economy.9.
System of management; general regulation and disposition of the affairs of a state or nation, or of any department of government.