paybackn.
/ˈpeɪbak/, U.S. /ˈpeɪˌbæk/ 1.
a. Something (esp. a sum of money) repaid, or given in exchange for a service, favour, etc.; reward, return. Now chiefly: the return on an investment, esp. when equal to the initial outlay.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > profit > [noun] > return from capital or investment
return on capital1776
pay-off1955
payback1959
1718 Answer to Late Insolent Libel in G. Howson Thief-taker Gen. (1970) 57 All the Service he expected from them, was to give him Information of Pocket-Books, or any Goods Stoll'n, as a Pay-back as he called it.
1959 Wall St. Jrnl. 31 Mar. 13/1 The pay~back order affects only the Star-Bulletin and not the union.
1971 C. R. W. Wysock Wright in B. de Ferranti Living with Computer iii. 22 This necessary investment in good education is essential although the payback may only be in the long term.
1989 Precision Marketing 6 Mar. 22/4 This is a major long-term commitment... The returns will be large and the company is prepared to wait for the payback.
1996 Introd. to Official List (Centrica plc) 48 North Morecambe has not yet reached payback, cumulative income not yet exceeding cumulative outgoings.
b. = payback period n. at Compounds.
ΚΠ
1965 Times 26 Feb. 19/3 Our return so far lies somewhere between 40 per cent and 50 per cent, or a pay-back of a little over two years.
1985 Daily Tel. 13 Nov. 2 (advt.) On a capital investment of £10,000 we've achieved a pay-back of under three months.
2003 Hotel & Motel Managem. (Nexis) Aug. 55 Most products have a payback of less than two years.
2.
a. Australian. The Australian Aboriginal code or custom of revenge; an act of revenge carried out according to this code.
ΚΠ
1935 D. Thomson In Arnhem Land 67 Many remembered feuds of long standing... The ‘pay back’ as they call it, may be delayed for years in order to catch a man..off guard.
1970 M. Kelly Spinifex iii. 63 ‘I can remember him taking part in a big pay-back raid a few years later.’ ‘Pay-back?’ ‘Pidgen for vendetta.’
1991 Independent 12 Feb. 13/1 Aboriginal artist Jimmy Pike is currently serving time in Australia for a tribal ‘pay-back’ killing.
b. gen. Retaliation, revenge; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > reciprocal treatment or return of an action > revenge > [noun]
wrakec825
wrackc900
wrechec1175
yielda1200
wrakedomc1275
vengeancea1300
vengement1338
awreaking1340
rewardc1350
revengeancec1480
wratha1500
avengementa1513
revengementa1513
revengea1525
avengeance1535
avenge1568
requital1569
ultion1575
venge1587
wreck1591
revanche1615
vindict1639
payback1973
1973 Sunday Times 10 June (Colour Suppl.) 46/2 Such ‘payback’, or revenge killings, are common in the Highlands.
1985 B. Edelman Dear Amer. 80 Payback for my buddies is not the uppermost thought in my mind.
1991 Sun (Brisbane) 28 Nov. 19/1 The president is outrageous star Bette Midler, who says the company is a payback for decades of macho dominance.
Compounds
payback period n. the length of time required to recoup the initial outlay on an investment.
ΚΠ
1953 Jrnl. Finance 8 119 There are three basic types of indexes in common use for measuring the worth of investment proposals: (1) postponability, (2) payback period, (3) rate of return.
1965 H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy ii. 14 Three common methods for evaluation are the payback period, the internal rate of discount, and the net present worth.
2002 Mod. Maturity Feb. 30/2 Beneficial offered to refinance the loan to spread it over a longer payback period.
payback time n. (a) = payback period n.; (b) colloquial (originally U.S.), time to honour an obligation; time to take one's revenge.
ΚΠ
1961 NAA Bull. Jan. 47 To make a better decision on a project,..management may wish..to consider..the rate of return and the capital payback time.
1978 Newsweek (Nexis) 13 Feb. 26 Carter had been elected with the help of a 90 percent black vote... As blacks see it, this second year of the Carter Presidency is pay-back time.
1998 Austral. Financial Rev. 28 Mar. 25/1 Payback time for an investment..is six years.
2001 J. C. Grimwood Pashazade (2003) xxxiii. 192 Payback time. ZeeZee blipped his bike into life, let out the clutch and felt his tyres squeal on the wet tarmac.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1718