profit

Etymology

From Middle English profit, from Old French profit (Modern French profit), from Latin prōfectus (“advance, progress, growth, increase, profit”), from proficiō (“to go forward, advance, make progress, be profitable or useful”). Doublet of profect.

noun

1. (accounting, economics) Total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price.
   Let no man anticipate uncertain profits. 1750 Oct. 2, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler
   War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our shoulders to the wheel," but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket—and are safely pocketed. 1935, Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, page 1 & 7
   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. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled. June 22 2013, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68
2. (dated, literary) Benefit, positive result obtained.
   Reading such an enlightening book on the subject was of much profit to his studies.
3. (property law) Ellipsis of profit à prendre.

verb

1. (transitive) To benefit (somebody), be of use to (somebody).
2. (intransitive, construed with from) To benefit, gain.
3. (intransitive, construed with from) To take advantage of, exploit, use.