| 释义 |
consumer|kənˈsjuːmə(r)|
[f. consume v.1]
1. He who or that which consumes, wastes, squanders, or destroys.
1535Coverdale Mal. iii. 11, I shal reproue the consumer for youre sakes. 1679Penn Addr. Prot. 24 It is a great Consumer of Time. 1825Lytton Falkland 67 Your sleep is not turned..into the very consumer of life.
2. a. Pol. Econ. One who uses up an article produced, thereby exhausting its exchangeable value: opposed to producer.
1745De Foe's Eng. Tradesman (1841) I. Introd. 2 And by the retailer to the last consumer. 1757Jos. Harris Coins 37 All men are in some degree consumers of foreign commodities. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 343 Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer.
b. Economics. consumers' credit, credit given to the consumer while he is in possession and use of an article for which he is paying by instalments; consumers' goods, consumer rent, consumer surplus, consumer wealth (see quots.).
1888J. B. Clark Capital & its Earnings ii. 13 Capital..is wealth in mediate utilization, and stands in contrast with that which has been ‘consumers' wealth’, which is in direct utilization. 1890A. Marshall Princ. Econ. I. 109 Goods may be divided into goods of the first order, which satisfy wants directly, such as food, clothes, etc,; goods of the second order... Goods of the first order are sometimes described as consumption or consumers' goods. Ibid. 175 The excess of the price which he would be willing to pay rather than go without it, over that which he actually does pay is the economic measure of this surplus pleasure: and..may be called Consumers' Rent. Ibid. 446 We may now consider the effects which a change in the conditions of supply may exert on Consumers' Surplus or Rent. 1927Seligman Econ. Instalment Selling I. 141 Consumers' credit would denote credit granted to consumers. Ibid. 143 It may be as well to study the institution of consumers' credit as a step in the granting of credit in a wider sense. 1951J. R. Winton Dict. Econ. Terms 18 Consumer's surplus, the difference between what a consumer actually pays when there is a flat rate or price for all quantities sold and the maximum amount which could be extracted from him.
c. gen. One who purchases goods or pays for services; a customer, purchaser. Freq. attrib., as consumer goods, consumer research, consumer resistance; Consumer(s') Council, an organization set up to safeguard the interest of consumers; consumer durable (orig. U.S. and usu. pl.), an article for domestic use which does not need to be rapidly replaced by the purchaser (see quot. 19581); also attrib.
1897Sears, Roebuck Catal. 1 (heading) Consumers guide. 1910W. James Mem. & Stud. (1911) xi. 276 A world of..‘consumer's leagues’, and ‘associated charities’. 1930Economist 3 May 988/2 If the Consumers' Council Bill..becomes law, the Food Council's successor will have powers of compelling the production of information. 1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday vii. 169 To cajole, exhort, or intimidate the consumer into buying,—to ‘break down consumer resistance’. 1933Planning I. vii. 5 Retail outlets..where improvements can be tried out and consumer reactions tested. 1934Dylan Thomas Let. 20 July (1966) 139 Those controlling the state shall earn in consumer credit no more than the worker who controls the drains of the state. 1938New Statesman 16 July 132/1 Whether this revival in consumer demand can lead on to a revival in capital goods investment depends [etc.]. 1940Ibid. 16 Mar. 382 Rich companies with a steady old-established trade in consumer goods or services. 1942in N. & Q. (1943) 24 Apr. 262/1 This period of consumer-goods shortages. 1949E. Jenkins Six Criminal Women 30 She..would have had nothing to learn from courses in salesmanship or the findings of Consumer Research. 1951Business Week 17 Nov. 158 Consumer durables slash. 1955Ann. Reg. 1954 79 Consumer durable goods as automobiles and household appliances. 1958New Statesman 26 Apr. 547/1 What economists call ‘consumer durables’, such things as motor cars, television sets and refrigerators. 1958Observer 26 Jan. 1/5 She writes regularly for The Observer on consumer guidance. 1958Ibid. 25 May 10/6 Complaints brought to the Consumer Council. 1959Times 6 Mar. 3/1 (Advt.), Executive..required by leading consumer goods manufacturer. 1959Which? June 43/1 Today a consumer can buy a Kitemarked electric blanket, crash helmet or domestic pressure cooker with assurance of its safety features. 1962‘H. Calvin’ The System xiii. 175 By the human race they mean consumer units, and they know everything about them because it's all in a file produced at enormous expense by a team of motivational research field workers. 1970Which? June 163/1 Manufacturers and consumers do not have identical points of view.
▸ consumer price index n. (also with capital initials) Econ. (orig. U.S.) an index of the variation in prices for retail goods and other items; cf. retail price index n. at retail n.1 Compounds.
1945Revue de l'Inst. Internat. de Statistique 13 82 Monthly Labor Review... *Consumer price indexes in large cities. 1977Ann. Internal Med. 86 361/1 One other source of evidence about the stability of relative value scales comes from the Consumer Price Index, which showed that the ratio of the semiprivate room and a diagnostic upper gastrointestinal X-ray series changed only from 1.40 to 1.41 during the years 1964 to 1974. 2006Financial Times (Nexis) 18 Jan. 46 The consumer price index rose by 0.3 per cent, in line with forecasts. |