Cost

n. [Lat. costa, rib.] A rib; a side. [Obs.] “Betwixt the costs of a ship.” B. Jonson.

(21), n. [Ger., D., Sw., & Dan. kost, It. costo, Sp. costo, costa, Pr. cost, costa, O. Fr. cost, N. Fr. coût. See the verb.] 1. The amount paid, charged, or engaged to be paid, for any thing bought or taken in barter; charge; expense; hence, whatever, as labor, self-denial, suffering, &c., is requisite to secure benefit. One day shall crown the alliance, an’t so please you, Here at my house, and at my proper cost. Shak. At less cost of life than is often expended in a skirmish, [Charles V.] saved Europe from invasion. Prescott. 2. Loss of any kind; detriment; pain; suffering. I know thy trains, Though dearly to my cost, thy gins and toils. Milton. 3. (pl.) (Law.) Expenses incurred in litigation. Costs in actions or suits are either between attorney and client, being what are payable in every case to the attorney or counsel by his client whether he ultimately succeed or not, or between party and party, being those which the law gives, or the court in its discretion decrees, to the prevailing against the losing party.

v. t. [ĭmp. & p. p. COST; p. pr. & vb. n. COST-ING.] [Ger. & D. kosten, Dan. koste, Sw. kosta, It. costare, Pr. & Sp. costar, Pg. custar, O. Fr. couster, N. Fr. coûter, from Lat. constare, to stand at, to cost, from con and stare, to stand.]

1Sense 1. To require to be given, expended, or laid out therefor, as in barter, purchase, acquisition, &c.

A diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort. Shak.

My lord, I am for you though it cost me ten nights’ watchings. Shak.

2Sense 2. To require to be borne or suffered.

Peor his other name when he enticed Israel in Shittim, on their march from Nile, To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. Milton.

To cost dear, to require a large outlay.