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mode of procedure; established system, as in the conduct of debates or the transaction of business; usage; custom; fashion. Dantiel. And, pregnant with his grander thought, Brought the old order into doubt. Emerson.

estation; token; portent. Dryden. We asked of God that some ostent might clear Our cloudy business, who gave us sign. Chapman.

; or, if not expressed, it is implied; as, he is out; or, he is out of the house, office, business, etc.; he came out; or, he came out from the ship, meeting, sect, party, etc. Out is used in a variety of applications, as: --

One who furnishes outfits for a voyage, a journey, or a business.

One who does not live where his office, or business, or estate, is. Bentley.

Those general charges or expenses in any business which cannot be charged up as belonging exclusively to any particular part of the work or product, as where different kinds of goods are made, or where there are different departments in a business; -- called also fixed, establishment, or (in a manufacturing business) a…

A person whose business is to pack things; especially, one who packs food for preservation; as, a pork packer.

residence of a sovereign, including the lodgings of high officers of state, and rooms for business, as well as halls for ceremony and reception. Chaucer.

Skill in all kinds of work or business; craft. [R.] Bailey.

A room for business or social conversation, for the reception of guests, etc. Specifically:

o shares as a member of a partnership in the management, or in the gains and losses, of a business. My other self, the partner of my life. Milton.

An alliance or association of persons for the prosecution of an undertaking or a business on joint account; a company; a firm; a house; as, to form a partnership.

nother; to change possession, condition, or circumstances; to undergo transition; as, the business has passed into other hands. Others, dissatisfied with what they have, . . . pass from just to unjust. Sir W. Temple.

The business of feeding or grazing cattle.

manufacture. (b) (Law) The right, granted by the sovereign, of exclusive control of some business of manufacture, or of the sale of certain articles, or of certain offices or prerogatives. -- Patent rolls, the registers, or records, of patents.

quasi-fatherly relation to the people, involving strict and intimate supervision of their business and social concerns, upon the theory that they are incapable of managing their own afffairs.

Business custom. [Commercial Cant]

One who makes a business of lending money on the security of personal property pledged or deposited in his keeping.

The business of a pawnbroker.

To do a small business; to be busy about trifles; to piddle.