Discount | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Dis'count, n.

noun

n. [Prefix dis and count, n., q. v.; O. Fr. descompte, now décompte, It. sconto, for disconto, Pg. desconto, Sp. descuento, Late Lat. discomputus.]

Sense 1. A deduction from, or abatement of, a sum of money forming the object of a business transaction; an allowance made for any reason upon an account, debt, demand, price asked, and the like.

Sense 2. A deduction made for interest, in advancing money upon a bill or note not due; payment in advance of interest upon money loaned. It is equal to the interest which would be acquired at the given rate for the given time, either by the whole sum specified to be paid, or by that sum after it is itself deducted: in the former case it is called bank discount.

Sense 3. The act of discounting; as, the bank is making no discounts at present.

Dis'count or Dis-count', v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. DISCOUNTED; p. pr. & vb. n. DISCOUNTING.] [Prefix dis and count, v., q. v.; O. Fr. descompter, now décompter, It. scontare, for discontare, Sp. & Pg. descontar.]

To deduct from an account, debt, charge, and the like; to make an abatement of; as, merchants sometimes discount five or six per cent. for prompt or for advanced payment.
To loan money upon, deducting the discount or allowance for interest; as, the banks discount notes and bills of exchange on good security.

Discount only unexceptionable paper. Walsh. 3. To leave out of account; to take no notice of. [Rare,] “Of the three opinions [I discount Brown’s].” W. Hamilton.

Dis′count or Dis-count′, v. i.

verbintransitive

To lend, or make a practice of lending, money, abating the discount; as, the banks discount for sixty or ninety days.