monopolyn.
/məˈnɒpəli/, /məˈnɒpl̩i/, U.S. /məˈnɑpəli/ 1.
a. The exclusive possession or control of the trade in a commodity, product, or service; the condition of having no competitor in one's trade or business. Also: an instance of this.In English Law: a situation in which one supplier or producer controls more than a specified fraction of the market.
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society > trade and finance > trading conditions > [noun] > monopoly
monopoly1534
monopole1548
sole-sale1596
appalto1847
society > trade and finance > trading conditions > [noun] > monopoly > in law
monopoly1948
1534 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. 1303/2 He knoweth..that of all the dysciples, there woulde none bee so false a traytour..but him selfe alone. And therefore is thys ware Judas all in thyne owne hande. Thou haste a monopoly thereof.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia i. sig. Div Suffer not thies ryche men to bye vp all, to ingrosse and forstalle, and with theyr monopolye to kepe the market alone as please them.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 210 Monopolies, and Coemption of Wares for Resale,..are great Meanes to enrich; especially, if the Partie haue intelligence, what Things are like to come into Request, and so store Himselfe before hand.
1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Fockerie, a Monopolie, or an Engrossement of all sorts of Wares and Commodities.
1775 E. Burke Speech Amer. Taxation 8 You have, in this kingdom, an advantage in Lead, that amounts to a monopoly.
1837 J. C. Calhoun Speech 3 Oct. in Papers (1980) XIII. 599 [This] feeling of hostility..terminated in breaking down the exclusive monopoly of the Bank of England, and narrowing greatly the specie basis of its circulation.
1861 M. Pattison in Westm. Rev. Apr. 410 In the reign of Edward III [German traders] had almost a practical monopoly of our carrying trade.
1883 Athenæum 14 Apr. 471/2 His treatment of the subject of monopolies, total or partial, individual or corporative.
1948 Act 11 & 12 Geo. VI c. 66 Prelim. Note This Act sets up a permanent Commission to investigate conditions in industry and trade which tend towards a monopoly.
1989 Containerisation Internat. Mar. 15/1 Previously, Cosco and Sinotrans had a virtual monopoly, with nearly all exports being shipped C & F.
2000 Sunday News (Tanzania) 26 Mar. 2/7 FM radio has been privatised, and some governments are even letting go of that cash cow: state telecom monopolies.
b. As a mass noun: the fact or existence of a situation in which trade is limited in this way; (in the 17th cent. often) †the crime of engrossing (obsolete).
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1601 J. Wheeler Treat. Commerce 65 Setting also price before hand of that which they sell, and of that which they will buy, and so committing open Monopoly.
1606 P. Holland in tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars Annot. 24/2* Who knoweth not that Monopoly is, when one engrosseth some commoditie into his owne handes, that none may sell the same but himselfe or from him?
1622 E. Misselden Free Trade 57 Monopoly is a kind of Commerce, in buying, selling, changing or bartering, vsurped by a few, and sometimes but by one person, and forestalled from all others, to the gaine of the Monopolist, and to the Detriment of other men.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Monopoly, an unlawful kind of Traffick, when one or more Persons make themselves sole Masters of any Commodity, with design to enhance its price; those who have occasion for it being obliged to purchase it at their hands, and on their own terms.
1793 J. Bentham Emancipate your Colonies in Wks. (1843) IV. 412 Monopoly, that is, exclusion of customers, has certainly no tendency to produce increase of the number of traders.
1820 Edinb. Rev. May 350 The nuisance of monopoly completely put down.
1842 R. Cobden in J. Morley Life R. Cobden (1902) xii. 43/2 Nothing can be got by fraternising with trade unions. They are founded upon principles of brutal tyranny and monopoly.
1897 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 12 125 In passing from the study of perfect monopoly to that of perfect competition, Cournot considers also the intermediate case of a few, say two, competitors.
1919 S. Weyman Great House v. 32 ‘Down with monopoly,’ cries the cotton lord.
1953 J. L. Hanson Textbk. Econ. iv. xiv. 233 The essential feature of monopoly is that the monopolist can influence price by expanding or contracting supply.
1988 Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy Winter 20 The potential social cost of a pre-emptive innovation..is that it perpetuates monopoly in the product market even though a more competitive market structure is possible.
c. Monopolies Commission n. (in the United Kingdom) a statutory body established in 1956 (succeeding the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission established in 1948), and from 1973 to 1999 called the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (abbreviated MMC).The Commission's remit was to investigate and report on matters in the public interest relating to mergers, monopolies, and (formerly) restrictive practices. In 1999 it was succeeded by the Competition Commission.
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society > authority > control > [noun] > regulation > specific regulatory bodies
Monopolies Commission1948
Oftel1982
Ofgas1985
Ofwat1986
Offer1989
Ofgem1999
1948 Act 11 & 12 Geo. VI c. 66 §1 For the purposes of this Act there shall be constituted a Commission, to be called the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission.
1973 Fair Trading Act c. 40 § 4 (1) The Commission established under section 1 of the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices (Inquiry and Control) Act 1948 by the name of the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission, and subsequently renamed the Monopolies Commission, shall as from the commencement of this Act be known as the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
1989 Which? July 306/1 The Monopolies and Mergers Commission report..recommended a major shake-up to instil more competition.
1996 Observer 31 Mar. (Business section) 5/7 Neither telecommunications regulator Oftel nor the Monopolies Commission would countenance BT buying Mercury.
2. An exclusive privilege conferred by a monarch, state, etc., of selling a particular commodity or of trading with a particular region.Under the Statute of Monopolies of 1624 all British monopolies were rendered void except those created by Parliament or granted in respect of the working or making of new manufactures and inventions.
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society > law > legal right > right of specific class, person, or place > [noun] > privilege or exceptional right > franchise or privilege of individual or corporation
freedomeOE
franchise1387
privilegec1390
monopoly1578
octroi1578
concession1837
1578 J. Morice in BL MS Egerton 3376 f. 19v Neither may the King by his chartre erect a monopoly depriving the marchaunts of his realme of their common trade and traffic neither yet by his graunt make any kind of mistery or occupation used within his kingdom to be altogether private unto a few.
?1601 H. Townshend in T. E. Hartley Proc. Parl. Elizabeth I (1995) III. 375 There is noe acte of her[s] that hath bene or is more derogatorye to her owne majestie and more odious to the subiecte or more dangerous to the commonwealth then the grauntinge of these monopolyes.
1602 B. Jonson Poetaster v. iii. sig. L2 Thou [sc. an actor] shalt haue a Monopoly of playing, confirm'd to thee and thy Couey, vnder the Emperours broad Seale, for this seruice. View more context for this quotation
a1627 T. Middleton Chast Mayd in Cheape-side (1630) v. 67 I would not haue my crueltie so talk't on, To any Child of mine, for a Monopoly.
1640 W. Habington Queene of Arragon iv. sig. F 2 b 'Cause one of Oberons Groomes had got from her The Monopoly of transporting gnats.
1701 W. Paterson Proposals Council of Trade 84 Altho'..this act be a monopoly,..Yet was it incomparably more soft and easy, than these Barbarous Monopolies of the Kings, James the 5th and 6th.
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea II. xii. 58 Monopolies, or exclusive privileges, are generally ungrateful to the people of a free state.
1831 J. Sinclair Corr. II. 249 The Public Revenue [of Russia]..is likely to increase, particularly the customs, and the farm, or monopoly of brandy.
1854 J. H. Stocqueler Hand-bk. Brit. India (ed. 3) 269 The finest salt in India is manufactured on the coast of Cuttack, yielding the Government a revenue little short of eighteen lacs of rupees, when the East-India Company possessed a monopoly of the manufacture of that necessary of Hindoo life.
1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 650/2 The monopoly of the right to print the Bible in England is still possessed by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and her Majesty's printer for England.
1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 40/2 One company held a monopoly on the limited fields of coking coal.
1974 Drum (Johannesburg) 8 Aug. 27 The BIC has the monopoly for brewing and distributing African beer in all major townships.
1996 Which? Guide to starting your own Business (new ed.) xi. 167 The cost of acquiring a patent in the UK to obtain an absolute monopoly for 20 years can be less than the insertion cost for one quarter page advertisement in a national newspaper.
3. In extended use (often with conscious metaphor).
a. The exclusive possession, control, or exercise of something; an instance of this. Usually with of (also, originally U.S., on) the thing possessed, etc.; occasionally of the person possessing it.
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the mind > possession > [noun] > exclusive possession
monopole1548
engrossing1595
monopoly1610
monopolizing1612
impropriation1614
society > authority > control > [noun] > control and possession > by one or two persons, or groups
monopoly1610
dual control1884
duopoly1959
1610 True Declar. Estate Colonie Virginia 7 I cannot see, but that these truths, will fanne away all those chaffie imputations, which anie Romish boaster (that challenge a monopolie of all conuersions) will cast vpon it.
a1641 T. Heywood Captives (1953) iii. ii. 58 A magozin off misedemeanors and a whole monopoly off mischeiff.
1659 J. Milton Considerations touching Hirelings To Parl. sig. A11 Till which greevances be remov'd and religion set free from the monopolie of hirelings.
1712 J. Henley Spectator No. 396. ⁋2 The monopoly of Punns..has been an immemorial privilege of the Johnians.
1787 J. Bentham Def. Usury xii. 123 Wealth has indeed the monopoly of justice against poverty.
1823 W. Scott Peveril I. vi. 167 Do you think you have a monopoly of rebellion, and that we have not a right to show a trick of disobedience in our turn?
1861 E. A. Freeman Hist. Ess. (1871) 1st Ser. ix. 268 Neither side has a monopoly of right or..wrong.
1878 H. S. Wilson Alpine Ascents ii. 45 Peter has almost a monopoly now of the Matterhorn.
1903 H. James Ambassadors xi. xxi. 409 A language quite to herself, the real monopoly of a special shade of speech.
1950 D. Cusack Three Austral. Three-act Plays ii. i. 219 I am afraid, Mrs MacNeil, we cannot allow you to claim a monopoly of child psychology, just because you have children of your own.
1990 Classic CD July 5/3 Men don't have a monopoly on unrequited love.
b. As a mass noun: the fact or existence of such a state of control, etc.
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1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 27 Thy children, Scotia, in the desart land, Driven from their homes by fell Monopoly, Keep holy to the Lord the seventh day.
1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflammation Introd. 29 That spirit of domination, exclusion, and monopoly, by which most of her [sc. the church of Rome's] institutions at that period were actuated.
1987 A. Miller Timebends ii. 137 Monopoly in anything is not only an evil but an insidious one.
4. The commodity, trade, etc., in which a monopoly is held, granted, or operated. Also in extended use.
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society > trade and finance > trading conditions > [noun] > monopoly > object or subject of monopoly
monopoly1713
1713 ‘Philopatrius’ Refl. Sach——l's Thanksgiving-day 4 The Franks are now become a Monopoly to one Side.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe IV. vii. 502 It is one of those happy ideas which have been privileged monopolies of the first inventor.
1852 J. R. McCulloch Treat. Taxation (ed. 2) ii. v. 206 The culture of opium..is a government monopoly, being confined to the provinces of Bahar and Benares... Every one who chooses may raise opium within the prescribed limits.
1878 Printing Trades Jrnl. xxiii. 22 Printing the Holy Scriptures is a monopoly.
1902 W. M. Alexander Demonic Possession in New Test. ii. 25 Such traits are not the monopoly of the Babylonian spirits.
5. A company that has, operates, or claims a monopoly.
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society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > [noun] > large or powerful company
monopoly1871
price leader1898
supergiant1910
corporate1945
giant1958
chaebol1972
1619 S. Purchas Pilgrim lvii. 552 For what otherwise is any Sect, but Faction, Conspiracie against the Common-Weale of Reason, an iniurious Monopolie, addicting to a priuate Name, mancipating a Mans selfe (Reasons Free-man) to this or that Family?
1697 J. Pollexfen Disc. Trade & Coyn 125 If Corporations in Trade with Joint-Stocks, should appear to be..to all intents and purposes Monopolies, mischievous to Trade.]
1871 Q. Rev. Oct. 461 Other enterprises with enormous capitals, e.g. banks,..are not monopolies.
1887 E. Bellamy Looking Backward v. 73 Without being..checked by the clamor against it, the absorption of business by ever larger monopolies continued.
1905 Daily Chron. 26 May 5/2 He..says he is tired of ‘graft’ politics and the sale of city franchises to monopolies [in Philadelphia].
1937 Discovery Sept. 268/2 A works canteen, a matter on which employees are sensitive, especially if..the canteen is a virtual monopoly.
1988 Oxf. Econ. Papers June 254 We consider a monopoly facing no threat of entry by rivals.
6. In form Monopoly. A proprietary name for: a board game in which players engage in speculative property dealings. Also in extended use.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > other board games > [noun] > others
quek1376
quek-board1477
draughtsc1540
goose1597
mancala1687
pachisi1801
Chinese chequers1840
go1840
shogi1858
wari1866
wei ch'i1871
gobang1875
crokinole1885
Kono1895
salta1901
Snakes and Ladders1907
pegity1925
oware1929
monopoly1934
Scrabble1950
morabaraba1953
Chutes and Ladders1955
pentominos1975
Trivial Pursuit1982
1934 Trade Announcem. Apr. in P. E. Orbanes Monopoly (2006) 50 A new adult game that is geared to the tempo of the present day has been introduced by Charles Brace Darrow, 40 Westview St., Philadelphia. The game, called Monopoly, has been displayed in New York and Philadelphia during the last few months and is reported to have enjoyed a heavy sale.
1934 F. A. O. Schwarz Christmas Catal. Monopoly game..‘Monopoly’ consists of nicely lithographed board, necessary houses and hotels, title cards for every property and sufficient scrip for four to nine players.
1939 G. Greene Lawless Roads Prol. 5 There were ‘Monopoly’ parties.
1960 Guardian 9 Dec. 9/7 My knowledge of the world of big business..I gained entirely from playing Monopoly.
1972 Times 8 Apr. 1/3 Private tenants in rented flats are banding together..against property speculators whom they accuse of ruthlessly playing Monopoly with their homes.
1989 New Yorker 11 Dec. 145/3 The players move pieces around a board, Monopoly style, buying and selling properties.
Phrases
† to make a monopoly of: (a) to obtain a trading monopoly in (a commodity); (b) figurative to dominate, keep to oneself, claim exclusive rights to (a possession, conversation, etc.). Obsolete.
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the mind > possession > have or possess [verb (transitive)] > have exclusive possession of
to make a monopoly of1576
engross1598
monopolize1628
society > trade and finance > trading conditions > [phrase] > obtain exclusive sale of
to make a monopoly of1576
1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas 753 Master Merchant..Can finde the meane, to make Monopolyes Of euery ware, that is accompted strange.
1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres iv. c. sig. Y4v He..makes a Monopoly of Offices.
1629 H. Burton Truth's Triumph 231 The iniquity of the Pontificians in making a monopoly of Gods grace.
1693 J. Dryden Disc. conc. Satire in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires p. ii Johnson [i.e. Ben Jonson]..had been acquainted with the Rules, yet seem'd to envy to Posterity that Knowledge, and like an Inventer of some useful Art, to make a Monopoly of his Learning.
1710 J. Addison Whig Examiner No. 1. ⁋1 The Kitcat have pretended to make a Monopoly of our sense.
1769 E. Burke Observ. Late State Nation 39 Government in France has made a monopoly of that great article of salt.
1770 H. Brooke Fool of Quality V. 217 Sectaries..would make a monopoly of the Saviour, they would shut him up into a conventicle.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
monopoly licence n.
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1625 F. Bacon Apophthegmes §5. 15 The Lo. Keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was asked his opinion, by Queene Elizabeth, of one of these Monopoly Licenses.
1905 J. J. Cockshott Licensing Act 1904 3 The State, in conferring upon me a monopoly license, had also granted me a commercial asset of great value.
1989 Omni Dec. 56/2 Lymphomed [is] the company that has a monopoly license to sell aerosolized pentamidine.
monopoly power n.
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1954 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 Dec. 3/3 ‘Oligopoly’—monopoly power in the hands of two or more companies.
1992 Independent 19 Nov. 29/4 Unigate yesterday called for the creation of a regulator of raw milk supplies along the lines of Ofgas or Oftel to prevent the Milk Marketing Board exploiting its monopoly power when it becomes a national co-operative.
monopoly price n.
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1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. xi. 180 The rent of land,..considered as the price paid for the use of the land, is naturally a monopoly price . View more context for this quotation
1807 Edinb. Rev. July 347 They still fight for the impossibility of driving a distant traffic, without the encouragement of monopoly-prices.
1859 G. Tucker Polit. Econ. for People 125 Labor of this rank..is at a monopoly price.
1974 J. White tr. N. Poulantzas Fascism & Dictatorship iii. ii. 91 By concentration in the production of agricultural machinery and chemical fertilizers, big capital imposed monopoly prices.
monopoly problem n.
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1892 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 2 408 The course of lectures to be given [will include] Critical Study of the Labor Problem and the Monopoly Problem, Professor H. C. Adams.
1916 Amer. Econ. Rev. 6 183 The problem..is quite a different one from the trust and monopoly problem.
1996 Mail on Sunday 28 Apr. (Financial Suppl.) 44/5 There have also been rumours that the two might carve up the Channel and Irish Sea routes between them, though this would raise other monopoly problems.
monopoly profit n.
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1861 De Bow's Rev. Feb. 153 Tax and monopoly profit 7,629,805.
1901 Atlantic Monthly June 744/1 While the discussion of the remedies continues, monopoly profits are flowing into the coffers of these same persons.
1991 Economist 5 Oct. 21/2 Britain's reformers—with telecoms as with other privatised utilities, most notably British Gas—probably underestimated this [outcry]. Price-capping is one of two main tools for reining back monopoly profits.
monopoly-trend n.
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1944 Horizon Jan. 67 What is valid..is no more than the good old perception of monopoly-trends in finance and industrial organization.
C2.
monopoly capitalism n. [after Russian monopolističeskij kapitalizm (Lenin Imperializm (1917) 73)] Economics a capitalist system typified by trade monopolies in the hands of a few people.
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society > trade and finance > trading conditions > [noun] > monopoly > system
monopolism1842
monopoly capitalism1934
1934 L. Corey Decline Amer. Capitalism xxi. 395 Monopoly capitalism has two interlocking aspects: separation of ownership, management, and control; usurpation of control by the financial oligarchy.
1943 H. Read Politics of Unpolitical i. 6 It [sc. the oligarchy of trade unions] is now openly merging itself with the ascendant oligarchy of monopoly capitalism, to form what James Burnham has called ‘the managerial class’.
1992 D. Lessing Afr. Laughter 187 He says there can only be one factory, so no competition..: all the disadvantages of monopoly capitalism, but in the name of Socialism.
monopoly money n. (a) money whose value derives largely from the operation of a monopoly; (b) (usually in form Monopoly money) the imitation banknotes provided in the game of Monopoly; (in extended use) money regarded as resembling this in some way, esp. in having no real existence or negligible value.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > [noun] > types of currency
soft currency1837
fiat-money1880
token coinage1881
token-money1889
token currency1893
monopoly money1895
hard currency1940
soft currency1940
reserve currency1950
petrocurrency1974
cryptocurrency1991
commodity dollar1998
1895 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 58 568 The money of the Philippines..is on a peculiar footing... Perhaps it should have been classed as monopoly money, for the Spanish government endeavoured in 1877, and for a time succeeded, in giving an artificial value to the Mexican dollar by prohibiting its importation.
1972 K. Bonfiglioli Don't point that Thing at Me xiii. 110 Martland's word was as good as his bond, but his bond was mere Monopoly money.
1984 ‘Tiresias’ Notes from Overground 9 Few realise, fewer still would admit, that these eagerly bandied facts are utterly valueless. Pinchbeck Monopoly money.
1992 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 20 Oct. a 30/1 We have seen them show up here in August with skis on the roof rack. We have indulged them when they splutter over our multi-coloured ‘Monopoly money’.
monopoly value n. the value of something in which a monopoly is held; extra value arising from the holding of a monopoly.
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society > trade and finance > monetary value > [noun] > value when goods are owned by a monopoly
monopoly value1871
1871 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 34 182 Where the house to be let is in a neighbourhood which possess any special advantages, it has a kind of monopoly value.
1904 Hansard Commons 20 Apr. 735 We think that when any new licence is granted the monopoly value should go to the public.
1953 B. Spiller Innkeeping x. 190 On the grant of a new licence the justices must exact the payment of a monopoly value, i.e. the difference between the value of the premises licensed and unlicensed.
1987 Amer. Econ. Rev. 77 182/2 The FF's [= favored firm's] lead must exceed the most progress that can be made in a single period without spending more than the monopoly value of the resulting position.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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