- credit
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—creditless, adj./kred"it/, n.1. commendation or honor given for some action, quality, etc.: Give credit where it is due.2. a source of pride or honor: You are a credit to your school.3. the ascription or acknowledgment of something as due or properly attributable to a person, institution, etc.: She got a screen credit for photography.4. trustworthiness; credibility: a witness of credit.5. confidence in a purchaser's ability and intention to pay, displayed by entrusting the buyer with goods or services without immediate payment.6. reputation of solvency and probity, entitling a person to be trusted in buying or borrowing: Your credit is good.7. influence or authority resulting from the confidence of others or from one's reputation.8. time allowed for payment for goods or services obtained on trust: 90 days' credit.9. repute; reputation; esteem.10. a sum of money due to a person; anything valuable standing on the credit side of an account: He has an outstanding credit of $50.11. Educ.a. official acceptance and recording of the work completed by a student in a particular course of study.b. a credit hour.12. Bookkeeping.a. an entry of payment or value received on an account.b. the right-hand side of an account on which such entries are made (opposed to debit).c. an entry, or the total shown, on the credit side.13. any deposit or sum of money against which a person may draw.14. do someone credit, to be a source of honor or distinction for someone. Also, do credit to someone.15. on credit, by deferred payment: Everything they have was bought on credit.16. to one's credit, deserving of praise or recognition; admirable: It is to his credit that he freely admitted his guilt.v.t.17. to believe; put confidence in; trust; have faith in.18. to bring honor, esteem, etc., to; reflect well upon.19. Bookkeeping. to enter upon the credit side of an account; give credit for or to.20. Educ. to award educational credits to (often fol. by with): They credited me with three hours in history.21. credit to or with, to ascribe to a (thing, person, etc.): In former times many herbs were credited with healing powers.[1535-45; < MF < OIt credito < L creditum loan, n. use of neut. of creditus, ptp. of credere to believe, confide, entrust, give credit]Syn. 4-7, 9. CREDIT, REPUTE, REPUTATION, STANDING refer to one's status in the estimation of a community. CREDIT refers to business and financial status and the amount of money for which a person will be trusted. REPUTE is particularly what is reported about someone, the favor in which the person is held, etc.: a man of fine repute among his acquaintances. REPUTATION is the moral and other character commonly ascribed to someone: of unblemished reputation. STANDING is one's position in a community, or rank and condition in life: a man of good standing and education.
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ITransaction between two parties in which one (the creditor or lender) supplies money, goods, services, or securities in return for a promised future payment by the other (the debtor or borrower).Such transactions normally include the payment of interest to the lender. Credit may be extended by public or private institutions to finance business activities, agricultural operations, consumer expenditures, or government projects. Large sums of credit are usually extended through specialized financial institutions such as commercial banks or through government lending programs.II(as used in expressions)investment tax credit* * *
▪ financetransaction between two parties in which one (the creditor or lender) supplies money, goods, services, or securities in return for a promised future payment by the other (the debtor or borrower). Such transactions normally include the payment of interest to the lender. Credit may be extended by public or private institutions to finance business activities, agricultural operations, consumer expenditures, or government projects.Most modern credit is extended through specialized financial institutions, of which commercial banks are the oldest and most important. In present-day industrial economies, the banks are able to extend and increase the supply of credit by the creation of new deposits for their loan customers.The lender must judge each loan he makes on the basis of the character of the borrower (his intention to repay), his capacity to repay (based on his potential for earning income), and his collateral (property pledged in case of default on the loan). The terms of credit transactions may be publicly regulated to prevent abuses by customers and lenders as well as to channel credit into particular sectors of the economy.In fields for which adequate private financing is not available, governments may extend credit. Public lending programs, often combined with public systems of savings collection, provide a large portion of housing finance in many European and Asian countries. In the U.S., public credit is frequently extended for housing, small business, and agriculture.Commercial banks in both industrialized and less developed countries are often reluctant to extend agricultural credit because of the high risk involved; such loans are usually made only to very large farms. In addition to government credit, cooperative credit systems have been particularly important in less developed countries, where they are often the only source of funds available to small farmers at reasonable rates of interest.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
