Noun

(monopolies)

A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exerting powerful control over it.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}

An exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service through exclusive possession.

The privilege granting the exclusive right to exert such control.

(metonymy) The market thus controlled.

(metonymy) The holder (person, company or other) of such market domination in one of the the above manners.

Noun

(countable) A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.}}

(countable) A person's occupation, work, or trade.

(uncountable) Commercial, industrial, or professional activity.

(uncountable) The volume or amount of commercial trade.

* {{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place

, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%. That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business , but on annoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.}}

(uncountable) One's dealings; patronage.

(uncountable) Private commercial interests taken collectively.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Schumpeter

, title= Cronies and capitols , passage=Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.}}

(uncountable) The management of commercial enterprises, or the study of such management.

(countable) A particular situation or activity.

(countable) An objective or a matter needing to be dealt with.

*

(uncountable) Something involving one personally.

(uncountable, parliamentary procedure) Matters that come before a body for deliberation or action.

(travel, uncountable) Business class, the class of seating provided by airlines between first class and coach.

* {{quote-book, 1992, James Wallace and Jim Erickson, Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire, page=154 citation

, passage=Gates, who always flew business or coach, didn't particularly like the high air fares Nishi was charging to Microsoft,

(acting) Action carried out with a prop or piece of clothing, usually away from the focus of the scene.

* {{quote-book, 1983, Peter Thomson, Shakespeare's Theatre, page=155 citation

, passage= The business with the hat is a fine example of the difficulty of distinguishing between 'natural' and 'formal' acting.}}

(countable, rare) The collective noun for a group of ferrets.

* {{quote-book, 2004, , The Jaguar Knights: A Chronicle of the King's Blades, page=252 citation

, passage=I'm sure his goons will go through the ship like a business of ferrets, and they'll want to look in our baggage. }}

(uncountable, slang, British) Something very good; top quality. (possibly from "the bee's knees")

(slang, uncountable) Excrement, particularly that of a non-human animal.