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Profitable; advantageous; useful. [Obs.] Harvey.

To be of service to; to be good to; to help on; to benefit; to advantage; to avail; to aid; as, truth profits all men. The word preached did not profit them. Heb. iv. 2. It is a great means of profiting yourself, to copy diligently excellent pieces and beautiful designs. Dryden.

Yielding or bringing profit or gain; gainful; lucrative; useful; helpful; advantageous; beneficial; as, a profitable trade; profitable business; a profitable study or profession. What was so profitable to the empire became fatal to the emperor. Arbuthnot. -- Prof"it*a*ble*ness, n. -- Prof"it*a*bly, adv.…

Gain; advantage; profit. That thy profiting may appear to all. 1 Tim. iv. 15.

To wander about and beg; to seek food or other supplies by low arts; to seek for advantage by mean shift or tricks. [Low] A perfect artist in progging for money. Fuller. I have been endeavoring to prog for you. Burke.

. Some persons . . . change their propositions according as their temporal necessities or advantages do turn. Jer. Taylor.

Benefit; profit; good; advantage. [Obs.] That shall be for your hele and for your prow. Chaucer.

Something in one's favor in a comparison or a contest; an advantage; means of influencing; as, in weights the favorite had the pull. [Slang]

To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to; as, to purchase a cannon.

specially, the act of sparing the life a conquered enemy; a refraining from pushing one's advantage to extremes. He magnified his own clemency, now they were at his mercy, to offer them quarter for their lives. Clarendon. Cocks and lambs . . . at the mercy of cats and wolves . . . must never expect better quarter. L'Es…

ch face of a quarter, to secure lumber that will warp relatively little or show the grain advantageously.

to desert one's party from interested motives; to forsake one's associates for one's own advantage; in the trades, to work for less wages, or on other conditions, than those established by a trades union. Coleridge . . . incurred the reproach of having ratted, solely by his inability to follow the friends of his early…

An article to obtain an advantage. The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own underhand to cross the design. Bacon.

Reciprocal advantages, obligations, or rights; reciprocation. Reciprocity treaty, or Treaty of reciprocity, a treaty concluded between two countries, conferring equal privileges as regards customs or charges on imports, or in other respects.

r with longing; grief; sorrow; especially, a mourning on account of the loss of some joy, advantage, or satisfaction. "A passionate regret at sin." Dr. H. More. What man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe Macaulay. Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a serva…

om; as, to relish food. Now I begin to relish thy advice. Shak. He knows how to prize his advantages, and to relish the honors which he enjoys. Atterbury.

ue; as, residuary matter; pertaining to the residue, or part remaining; as, the residuary advantage of an estate. Ayliffe. Residuary clause (Law), that part of the testator's will in which the residue of his estate is disposed of. -- Residuary devise (Law), the person to whom the residue of real estate is devised by a…

To have recourse; to apply; to one's self for help, relief, or advantage. The king thought it time to resort to other counsels. Clarendon.

The profit on, or advantage received from, labor, or an investment, undertaking, adventure, etc. The fruit from many days of recreation is very little; but from these few hours we spend in prayer, the return is great. Jer. Taylor.

Promotive of, or contributing to, some beneficial purpose; beneficial; advantageous; as, a salutary design.