Talk:business

what is the possessive form of the word? --Remi 08:16, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Business's (singular) or businesses' (plural). Widsith 08:25, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

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== business center == Hi there Msh210. Wouldn't business center be an SoP entry? A center for business is the way that I was thinking it would be SoP. Anyways, since you created it, I wanted to ask you if you could possibly explain why it wouldn't be SoP. Thanks, Razorflame 19:53, 20 January 2010 (UTC) I thought about it a bit before creating it. It's arguably SoP. But I couldn't find a definition at [[business]] that fit the bill. What sense of "business" is it a center for? Even if there is some sense I'm missing there or some sense we're missing there (with a different sense of "miss", of course  :-) ), I'm still not sure it'd be SoP — but reserve judgement on that until such sense is identified.​—msh210℠ 19:59, 20 January 2010 (UTC) I'd have thought it was just a center for "commercial, industrial, or professional activity", using the same center as shopping center, garden center, etc. That said, I still think they deserve entries; maybe the WT:IDIOM#In between test. Conrad.Irwin 20:05, 20 January 2010 (UTC) But AFAICT it's only a center for office-related activity, like faxing, not at all more generally "commercial, industrial, or professional activity". You can't draw up blueprints there, or mix reagents, or treat patients. Perhaps my limited experience with business centers tells, though.​—msh210℠ 20:10, 20 January 2010 (UTC) I'd agree with you on the semantics of business centre, perhaps our definition of business in that sense is misleading; I wouldn't refer to someone drawing blueprints or mixing reagents as "doing business"; working, of course, but it's not just "business" as I understand it. Conrad.Irwin 20:15, 20 January 2010 (UTC) What do you think, then, of the usex on that sense? "He's such a poor cook, I can't believe he's still in business!"​—msh210℠ 20:21, 20 January 2010 (UTC) This implies to me that the chef runs a business as well as doing the cooking, I can't imagine that phrase being used for someone who is employed solely to cook. Conrad.Irwin 20:42, 20 January 2010 (UTC) [e/c with DCDuring, but just blindly going ahead with this before reading his] So I suppose our current senses (countable) A person's occupation, work, or trade He is in the motor business. I'm going to Las Vegas on business. (uncountable) Commercial, industrial, or professional activity He's such a poor cook, I can't believe he's still in business! We do business all over the world should be remade. Into something like (countable) A field of occupation, work, or trade He's in the motor business (uncountable) Occupation, work, or trade I'm going to Las Vegas on business. [here?] He's such a poor cook, I can't believe he's still in business! (uncountable) The occupation of management of a workplace master of business administration business center [here?] He's such a poor cook, I can't believe he's still in business! perhaps: does that match what you're thinking?​—msh210℠ 20:56, 20 January 2010 (UTC) "in business" might be an idiom itself, meaning: operating as a business. (Usex above) operating in a business-like manner. (not sure about this sense) operating without impediment to achieving a goal. "You've got the keys and the rental contract? Now we're in business." I am at a loss as to how to substitute any specific wording at, say, MWOnline into the expression and come up with the meanings I am familiar with.— This unsigned comment was added by DCDuring (talk • contribs). "Business center" would normally only be used without qualification if the referent facility was obvious in context. "Does this hotel have a place where I can get some things done for a few hours?" "Yes, Mr. During, our business center is down the passage over there." Otherwise, I would expect something like "I used the hotel's business center until my room was ready." This latter seems very SoP to me, and so does the first. DCDuring TALK 20:54, 20 January 2010 (UTC) Hm, good point, it does seem like a SoP when you put it that way.​—msh210℠ 20:59, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Hyphenation

Is it really proper to hypenate at a silent vowel? It is certainly not a very good idea. Does Strunk and White weigh in on this. Is there a citable authority on the matter? Brothercanyouspareadime 20:08, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

What hyphenation are you talking about? You also need to indicate whether you are talking about British or American hyphenation, since they are different. Are you referring to "busi‧ness"? That is the standard American hyphenation of this word. I have no idea how the British hyphenate it. —Stephen ^(Talk) 23:56, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

RFV

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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business

Rfv-sense: adjective. Probably the attributive use of the noun. I probably should have been bold and just deleted it, but I suppose there is a change it could be cited. Mglovesfun (talk) 01:22, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

I'd welcome collocation ideas for this. I've tried the most direct approaches that are somewhat selective. DCDuring TALK 03:39, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

I've cited a slightly different sense. — Pingku^dimmi 10:51, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Good definition. Good cites, I think, except for the 2010 cite. It seems to show "fully" being a clausal/verbal adverb rather an adjective-modifying adverb.

Now that the adjectivity is cited in that sense, more central usage examples or citations would be desirable, reflecting common collocations in the sense given and possibly in attributive position.

One of the disadvantage of the adjective-proving citations is that they are not very representative of overall usage. Often these adjective uses seem "wrong" to me. It can keep me from seeing that a given collocation of the word is not of attributive use of the noun rather than of the putative adjective. DCDuring TALK 12:38, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

I've replaced the cite with one using what might be regarded a nonstandard parse/usage of business men.

Also some citations for the rfv'd sense. — Pingku^dimmi 15:53, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

They also look good. I like the one with business once after "a" and twice it. "Solely" and "purely" should be on a list of adjective-modifying test adverbs at Wiktionary:English adjectives, which probably could use some updating. DCDuring TALK 18:03, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

I interpret this as RFV-passed. If I err in this interpretation, reopen the discussion. - -sche (discuss) 18:17, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

On a later discussion at Wiktionary:Requests_for_deletion#county, I've wondered whether any focus adverbs are good for such a test. I'd forgotten about this discussion. DCDuring TALK 18:54, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Is business an adjective?

In what way is business an adjective? All the examples cited seem to be compound nouns, and I am not sure you'd be able to have comparatives or superlatives of this "adjective" (i.e. you cannot say "Wearing a suit and a tie is more business than jeans and T-shirt?")? Is the adjective not business-like or something else, but not business? Hfossa 15:15, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Sorry to follow up on my own question, but I have just spotted the RFV section on this page, and fail to see how this discussion can constitute a confirmation of the word business as an adjective. Why the references to adverbs? Hfossa 15:23, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

• Because adverbs qualify adjectives, not nouns. If (deprecated template usage) business is only a noun, then constructions like ‘thoroughly business’ as cited make no sense. Ƿidsiþ 15:27, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Where are the citations? To me "thoroughly business", as well as "truly", "wholly" or "completely", do not sound right - but I guess that is not relevant in the Wiktionary.Hfossa 09:52, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

The citations are listed after the definitions at business, including a link at the end of each one to the source of the cite. (Click on the "quotations" link to display the quotations.) —Stephen ^(Talk) 10:25, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. It seems to me that all the examples cited in the adjective section are US-American, and the uses of the word listed appear flawed in British English. How would one go about getting a US-specific (or chiefly US) tag added to the adjective? Hfossa 12:19, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Examples of business as attributive noun

There is plenty of evidence at BNC and at Google News. DCDuring TALK 14:22, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

The Google link above refers mostly to examples of the noun "business" being used in a compound noun, in my understanding. The similar search with adverbs yields no relevant results.Hfossa 13:25, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

This is not relevant to the prior topic. DCDuring TALK 17:41, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Sorry if I misunderstood. I took your comment to be providing examples of (evidence for) non-US use of the word "business" as an adjective (so I moved it to the topic above). I subsequently understand that "attributive noun" would be more correct than "compound noun" for the uses your search finds. My apologies. I still think that the examples cited do not provide evidence of "business" as an adjective in UK usage. Hfossa 07:59, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Nor do I. DCDuring TALK 10:14, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Quality or state of being busy

Can "business" mean this, i.e. the same as busyness? We have no such sense here. Equinox ◑ 22:43, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

b'ness

b'ness is an alternative form. --Backinstadiums (talk) 08:51, 12 September 2020 (UTC)