cost (kôst)
n.

1. An amount paid or required in payment for a purchase; a price.
2. The expenditure of something, such as time or labor, necessary for the attainment of a goal: "Freedom to advocate unpopular causes does not require that such advocacy be without cost" (Milton Friedman).
3. costs Law. The charges fixed for litigation, often payable by the losing party.

v., cost, cost·ing, costs.

v.intr.
To require a specified payment, expenditure, effort, or loss: It costs more to live in the city.

v.tr.

1. To have as a price.
2. To cause to lose, suffer, or sacrifice: Participating in the strike cost me my job.
3. past tense and past participle, costed. To estimate or determine the cost of: The accountants costed out our expenses.

idiom:

at all costs

1. Regardless of the expense or effort involved; by any means.

[Middle English, from Old French, from coster, to cost, from Latin cōnstāre, to be fixed, cost. See constant.]

costless cost'less adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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