The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.
ADVANTAGE
advantage, reward
(noun) benefit resulting from some event or action; “it turned out to my advantage”; “reaping the rewards of generosity”
advantage, vantage
(noun) the quality of having a superior or more favorable position; “the experience gave him the advantage over me”
advantage
(noun) (tennis) first point scored after deuce
advantage
(verb) give an advantage to; “This system advantages the rich”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
advantage (countable and uncountable, plural advantages)
(countable) Any condition, circumstance, opportunity or means, particularly favorable to success, or to any desired end.
(obsolete) Superiority; mastery; — used with of to specify its nature or with over to specify the other party.
(countable, uncountable) Superiority of state, or that which gives it; benefit; gain; profit
(tennis) The score where one player wins a point after deuce but needs the next to carry the game.
(soccer) The continuation of the game after a foul against the attacking team, because the attacking team are in an advantageous position.
Interest of money; increase; overplus (as the thirteenth in the baker's dozen).
Synonyms
• foredeal, benefit, value, edge
• vantage
Antonyms
• disadvantage, drawback
Verb
advantage (third-person singular simple present advantages, present participle advantaging, simple past and past participle advantaged)
(transitive) to provide (someone) with an advantage, to give an edge to [from 15th c.]
(reflexive) to do something for one's own benefit; to take advantage of [from 16th c.]
Usage notes
• Some authorities object to the use of advantage as a verb meaning "to provide with an advantage".
Synonyms
• favor, favorise
• benefit
Source: Wiktionary
Ad*van"tage, n. Etym: [OE. avantage, avauntage, F. avantage, fr. avant before. See Advance, and cf. Vantage.]
1. Any condition, circumstance, opportunity, or means, particularly favorable to success, or to any desired end; benefit; as, the enemy had the advantage of a more elevated position. Give me advantage of some brief discourse. Shak. The advantages of a close alliance. Macaulay.
2. Superiority; mastery; -- with of or over. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us. 2 Cor. ii. 11.
3. Superiority of state, or that which gives it; benefit; gain; profit; as, the advantage of a good constitution.
4. Interest of money; increase; overplus (as the thirteenth in the baker's dozen). [Obs.] And with advantage means to pay thy love. Shak. Advantage ground, vantage ground. [R.] Clarendon.
– To have the advantage of (any one), to have a personal knowledge of one who does not have a reciprocal knowledge. "You have the advantage of me; I don't remember ever to have had the honor." Sheridan.
– To take advantage of, to profit by; (often used in a bad sense) to overreach, to outwit.
Syn.
– Advantage, Advantageous, Benefit, Beneficial. We speak of a thing as a benefit, or as beneficial, when it is simply productive of good; as, the benefits of early discipline; the beneficial effects of adversity. We speak of a thing as an advantage, or as advantageous, when it affords us the means of getting forward, and places us on a "vantage ground" for further effort. Hence, there is a difference between the benefits and the advantages of early education; between a beneficial and an advantageous investment of money.
Ad*van"tage, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Advantaged; p. pr. & vb. n. Advantaging.] Etym: [F. avantager, fr. avantage. See Advance.]
Definition: To give an advantage to; to further; to promote; to benefit; to profit. The truth is, the archbishop's own stiffness and averseness to comply with the court designs, advantaged his adversaries against him. Fuller. What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away Luke ix. 25. To advantage one's self of, to avail one's self of. [Obs.]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
9 January 2025
PRESENTATION
(noun) (obstetrics) position of the fetus in the uterus relative to the birth canal; “Cesarean sections are sometimes the result of abnormal presentations”
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