Also 4–6 coste. Pa. t. and pple. cost; also in 4 pa. t. costed, costide, pa. pple. coste. [a. OF. coster, couster (mod. coûter) = Pr. and Sp. costar, Pg. custar, It. costare:—L. constāre to stand together, stand firm, abide, be settled or fixed, stand at a price, cost, f. con- together + stāre to stand.
The construction of this verb is idiomatic, and for its analysis it is necessary to go back to Latin. Hoc constitit mihi tribus assibus was literally ‘this stood (to) me in three asses.’ The dative of the person has in Eng. become an indirect object, to being never expressed; the Lat. locative (ablative or genitive) of the amount or price became a simple object in French, and remains an adverbial object in English, in being never expressed. Hence a natural tendency to view the noun expressing the price as a simple object, and the verb as transitive. That it is yet really intransitive is shown by the fact that it has no passive either with the price or the indirect object as subject; ‘this cost me nothing’ cannot be changed into ‘nothing was cost me by this,’ or ‘I was cost nothing by this.’ The adverbial adjunct may also be expressed by an adverb as much, little, more, less, dear(ly (cf. L. carius constat): even here the tendency is to look upon much, little, etc., as adjs. used substantively.]
1. To be acquired or acquirable at (so much), to come into one’s possession or be maintained at (an expressed price); to be of the price of, be bought or maintained for, necessitate the expenditure of (an amount specified, or indicated as much, little, etc.).
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 768. And it shal coste noght.
1509–10. Act 1 Hen. VIII., c. 20 § 1. Merchaundisez … to be valued after that they coste at the firste byeng.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., lxxiv. § 2. 305. A great fire was kindled … which cost a great deal.
1745. De Foe’s Eng. Tradesman, i. (1841), I. 6. [He] thereby knows what everything costs at first hand.
1881. Goldw. Smith, Lect. & Ess., 243. A bureau that cost forty dollars.
b. With personal object (indirect): To bring or entail on (a person) in the way of expenditure; to ‘stand (a person) in’ (so much).
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. Prol. 204. And þouȝ it had coste [v.r. hadde costned] me catel, biknowen it I nolde.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, vi. 140. & [it] shold cost me all that I have in the worlde.
1538. Starkey, England, II. i. 175. Hyt costyth hym more in nuryschyng hys famyly … then before.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. iii. 93. His Breeches cost him but a Crowne.
1647. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 7. That whatsoever it might cost him, I should be sent to the University.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., iv. § 1. 9. For fear of losing the mony I [a slave] cost him.
1799. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat., III. 595. Such an establishment would cost the State a very small matter.
1863. P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 78. What will it cost him to set up the frame of such a ship.
2. fig. To necessitate or involve the expenditure of (time, trouble, or the like), loss or sacrifice of (some valued possession), suffering of (some penalty, etc.).
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 152. Which most is worth … And costeth lest a man to kepe … I say it is humilite.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Chron. xiii. [xii.] 19. Yf he fell vnto his lorde Saul, it mighte cost vs oure neckes.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 387. I am for you, though it cost mee ten nights watchings.
a. 1633. G. Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651), 10. Good words are worth much, and cost little.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 414. To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. ix. 150. It cost me a month to shape it.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VIII. 72. The construction of their combs, costs them a great deal of labour.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 14. 99. The journey having cost a little more than 14 hours.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 197. His [the elder Pliny’s] eagerness to witness the spectacle [eruption of Vesuvius] cost him his life.
1874. Green, Short Hist., ii. 98. The King’s violence … cost him the support of the clergy.
b. To cost (one) dear, dearly: to entail great expenditure or loss upon; to involve a heavy penalty.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 1092. Ȝif þou wolt him bugge to his feore, He schal costen þe ful deore.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3494. A sholde delyuery me out of prisoun … Coste hit noȝt so dere.
1604. Shaks., Oth., V. ii. 255. If thou attempt it, it will cost thee deere.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 121. Sixe and thirty thousand Turkes were slaine, and eight thousand Persians, with whose heads (to terrifie the Persians further, and to make his losse seeme lesse) he made a fortification. But this cruelty cost him deerely afterwards.
1869. Lowell, Singing Leaves, iii. And woe, but they cost me dear!
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xviii. 162. To keep strict watch over the city whose conquest had cost William so dear.
† 3. Of persons: To incur expense, ‘be at charges’; quasi-trans. to expend or spend (much, little, aught, etc.). Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 194. Riche men … þat costen so moche in grete schapellis. Ibid., Sel. Wks., III. 305. Þei wolen make executours to coste moche bi somonyng fro place to place. Ibid. (1382), Acts xxi. 24. Halowe thee with hem; and coste in hem, that thei schaue her heedis.
c. 1420. Avow. Arth., xxviii. If thou haue oȝte on hur coste.
c. 1490. Promp. Parv., 94 (MS. K). Costyn, or do cost or spendyn, exspendo.
4. Comm. To estimate or fix the cost of production of an article or piece of work. Hence Costing vbl. sb. (also attrib.)
1884. Birmingham Daily Post, 22 Jan., 3/4. Managing Clerk,… capable of costing.
1888. Daily News, 7 July, 7/2. Severe in economy of materials and in the ‘costing’ of the work. Ibid. (1891), 28 Sept., 8/4. Upholsterers’ Trimmings.—Wanted, a smart Young Man, for Costing Department.
Cost, obs. f. COAST, and aphetic f. ACCOST.
