Dividend

Definition: Dividend

Dividend

Noun

1. That part of the earnings of a corporation that is distributed to its shareholders; usually paid quarterly.

2. A number to be divided by another number.

3. A bonus; something extra (especially a share of a surplus).

Date "dividend" was first used: 1557. (references)

Etymology: Dividend \Div"i*dend\, noun. [Latin expression dividendum thing to be divided, neut. of the gerundive of dividere: compare to the French expression dividende.]. (Websters 1913)

Specialty Definition: Dividend

Domain	Definition
Business	The cash or stock payment made to shareholders, variable in the case of ordinary or common shares, fixed in the case of preferred shares. Source: European Union. (references)
	In the language of business, the payments made to shareholders from the profits earned by the corporation are known as dividends. Source: European Union. (references)
Computing	The quantity that is divided by another quantity; also, the numerator of a fraction. Source: European Union. (references)
	In a division operation, the number or quantity to be divided. Source: European Union. (references)
Dream Interpretation	To dream of dividends, augments successful speculations or prosperous harvests. To fail in securing hoped-for dividends, proclaims failure in management or love affairs. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted ....
Finance	A payment, usually in cash, that a corporation makes to its stockholders. The dividend is the stockholders' share of the profits left after the company sets aside funds to finance operations, expansion and modernization. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Dividend

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A dividend is the distribution of profits to a company's shareholders.

The primary purpose of any business is to create profit for its owners, and the dividend is the most important way the business fulfills this mission. When a company earns a profit, some of this money is typically reinvested in the business and called retained earnings, and some of it can be paid to its shareholders as a dividend. Paying dividends reduces the amount of cash available to the business, but the distribution of profit to the owners is, after all, the purpose of the business.

Some companies pay "stock dividends" rather than cash dividends, in which case shareholders receive additional stock shares.

The amount of the dividend is determined every year at the company's annual general meeting, and declared as either a cash amount or a percentage of the company's profit. The dividend is the same for all shares of a given class (that is, preferred shares or common stock shares). Once declared, a dividend becomes a liability of the firm.

When a share is sold shortly before the dividend is to be paid, the seller rather than the buyer is entitled to the dividend. At the point at which the buyer is not entitled to the dividend if the share is sold, the share is said to go ex-dividend. This is usually two business days before the dividend is to be paid, depending on the rules of the stock exchange. When a share goes ex-dividend, its price will generally fall by the amount of the dividend.

The dividend is calculated mainly on the basis of the company's unappropriated profit and its business prospects for the coming year. It is then proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board to the annual general meeting. At most companies, however, the amount of the dividend remains constant. This helps to reassure investors, especially during phases when earnings are low, and sends the message that the company is optimistic with respect to its future performance.

Some companies have dividend-reinvestment plans. These plans allow shareholders to use dividends to systematically buy small amounts of stock often at no commission. Dividends are not yet paid in gold certificates although this idea has been discussed by mining companies such as Goldcorp.

Companies have often avoided paying dividends for several reasons:

Company management and the board believe that it is important for the company to take advantage of opportunities before it, and reinvest its recent profits in order to grow, which will ultimately benefit investors more than a dividend payout at present. This reasoning is sometimes right, but is often wrong, and opponents of this reasoning (such as Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, who complained about the practice in the classic 1934 reference Security Analysis) usually note that this comprises company management dictating to the business's owners how to invest their own money (i.e. the profit of the business).
When dividends are paid, shareholders in many countries, including the United States, suffer from double taxation of those dividends: the company pays income tax to the government when it earns any income, and then when the dividend is paid, the individual shareholder pays income tax to the government on the dividend payment. This is often used as justification for retaining earnings, or for performing a stock buyback, in which the company buys back stock, thereby increasing the value of the stock left outstanding. The shareholder pays no income tax on this transaction.

Microsoft is an example of a company who has historically been a proponent of retaining earnings; it did so from its IPO in 1986 until 2003, when it declared it would start paying dividends. By this point Microsoft had accumulated over $43 billion in cash, and there had been increasing irritation from stockholders who believed this large pile of cash should lie in their hands and not in the company's, when Microsoft had no conceivable good reason to have that much money sitting in the bank.

In the United States, credit unions generally use the term "dividends" to refer to interest payments they make to depositors. These are not dividends in the normal sense and are not taxed as such; they are just interest payments. Credit unions call them dividends because, technically, credit unions are owned by their members, and the interest payments are therefore payments to owners.

Abbreviations & Acronyms: Dividend

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
DIVIDEND	English	Dealer interactive video	N/A
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonyms within Context: Dividend

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Apportionment	Dividend, portion, contingent, share, allotment, fair share, allocation, lot, measure, dose; dole, meed, pittance; quantum, ration; ratio, proportion, quota, modicum, mess, allowance; suerte.
Number	Sum, difference, complement, subtrahend; product; multiplicand, multiplier, multiplicator; coefficient, multiple; dividend, divisor, factor, quotient, submultiple; fraction, rational number; surd, irrational number; transcendental number; mixed number, complex number, complex conjugate; numerator, denominator; decimal, circulating decimal, repetend; common measure, aliquot part; prime number, prime, relative prime, prime factor, prime pair; reciprocal; totient.
Part	Piece, lump, bit cut, cutting; chip, chunk, collop, slice, scale; lamina; small part; morsel, particle; (smallness); installment, dividend; share; (allotment).
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Dividend

English words defined with "dividend": dividend warrant, Divident, divisor, divvy ♦ equalizing dividend, extra dividend ♦ full tontine ♦ numerator ♦ Preferred stock, Prize money ♦ stock dividend ♦ To pass a dividend. (references)

Specialty definitions using "dividend": accrued dividend, accumulated dividend, annual value ♦ blue chips, B-share ♦ constant-growth model ♦ direct deposit, distributed profit, distributions, DIVIDEND CLERK, do not reduce ♦ earned surplus ♦ fixed income investment, franked payment ♦ glamour stock, Gordon-Shapiro model ♦ indicated dividend, indicated yield, interim dividend proposed ♦ operations clerk, overseas dividend ♦ pari passu clause, perpetual preferred stock, preference share, preference stock, preferred share ♦ rate of return, renewal certificate, renewal coupon, retained income ♦ security custodian, senior share, share dividend, spinoff ♦ tilted portfolio, to cash, to declare, to make payable, TRANSFER CLERK, HEAD ♦ zero coupon French bond, zero's. (references)

Etymologies containing "dividend": Divident. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Dividend" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

German (dividend), Romanian (dividend, quota), Swedish (dividend).

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Modern Usage: Dividend

Domain

Usage

Movie/TV Titles

Father's Little Dividend (1951)

The Dividend (1916)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Dividend

Domain	Title
Books	Environmental Tax Reform and the Labour Market: The Double Dividend in Different Labour Market Regimes (reference) Mergents Dividend Achievers 2001 (reference) Moody's Handbook of Dividend Achievement, 1995 (reference) Morningstar Mutual Fund Report: Morgan Stanley Dividend Growth Secs B [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (reference) Reap the Web Services Dividend! Step 3: Managing Rollout Risks and Rewards [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Directory Of Companies Offering Dividend Reinvestment Plans (reference) Dividend Monitor And Outlook (reference) Dividend Record Retrieval Service (reference) Standard & Poors Annual Dividend Record (reference) Standard & Poors Dividend Record - Daily (reference) (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies	Father's Little Dividend (reference) Last Time I Saw Paris / Father's Little Dividend (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Dividend

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Historic Usage: Dividend

Author	Date	Quotation
Treaty of Versailles	1919	This provision shall apply to the period prescribed for the presentation of interest or dividend coupons or for the presentation for repayment of securities drawn for repayment or repayable on any other ground. (reference)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Dividend

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	The young girl had received her dividend.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Dividend

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		In this case the tax is to be withheld by the partnership paying the dividend. (references)
Economic History	India	Dividend remittances are not restricted. (references)
	Kenya	The MIM targets mature companies with strong dividend streams. (references)
	Poland	Full repatriation of profits and dividend payments is allowed without obtaining a permit. (references)
Political Economy	JAMAICA	The Export Industry Encouragement Act (EIEA) allows approved export manufacturers access to duty-free imported raw materials and capital goods and exempts those manufacturers from income and dividend taxes for a maximum of ten years. (references)
Trade	Panama	Dividends paid on profits from foreign trade operations and from direct sales are not subject to the dividend tax. (references)
	Kenya	Incentives provided to manufacturers in the Export Processing Zones include: a ten-year corporate tax holiday and 25 percent tax rate thereafter; a ten year withholding tax holiday on dividend remittance; duty and VAT exemption on all inputs except motor vehicles; stamp duty exemption on legal instruments; exemption from Industrial Registration act, Factories Act, Statistics Act, and Trade Licensing Act; exemption from pre-shipment inspection; on site customs inspection; and work permits for senior expatriate staff. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Speeches: Dividend

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
George W. Bush	2001-2005	About half of all dividend income goes to America's seniors, and they often rely on those checks for a steady source of income in their retirement.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Dividend

"Dividend" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.26% of the time. "Dividend" is used about 1,347 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	99.26%	1,337	5,940
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	0.3%	4	175,879
Lexical Verb (base form)	0.15%	2	245,945
Noun (proper)	0.15%	2	245,945
Noun (common)	0.15%	2	245,945
Total	100.00%	1,347	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Dividend

Expressions using "dividend": accrued dividend ♦ accumulated dividend ♦ cum dividend ♦ deferred dividend ♦ dividend coupon ♦ dividend off ♦ dividend on ♦ dividend on shares ♦ dividend payable ♦ dividend shares issued by limited liability companies ♦ dividend warrant ♦ equalizing dividend ♦ ex dividend ♦ extra dividend ♦ final dividend ♦ indicated dividend ♦ interim dividend ♦ interim dividend proposed ♦ overseas dividend ♦ peace dividend ♦ share dividend ♦ stock dividend ♦ stock dividend issue ♦ To pass a dividend. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "dividend": dividend-right, dividend-stripping.
	Ending with "dividend": ex-dividend.
	Containing "dividend": non-dividend-paying, social-dividend-type.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Dividend

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
dividend	382	dividend highest paying stock	24
stock dividend	326	dividend taxation	22
dividend paying stock	148	best dividend stock	22
dividend tax	123	date dividend	21
high dividend stock	122	dividend history	20
dividend reinvestment plan	78	calendar dividend	18
cut dividend tax	78	highest dividend	18
dividend ex	70	dividend high paying stock	18
date dividend ex	63	high dividend	17
alaska dividend fund permanent	59	dividend rate tax	17
dividend yield	54	discount dividend model	16
dividend reinvestment	53	air dividend mile us	16
us airway dividend mile	48	alaska dividend	15
dividend pay stock that	45	dividend mile	15
dividend policy	41	dividend law tax	14
dividend fund permanent	28	dividend payout ratio	13
dividend reinvestment program	28	dividend microsoft	12
dividend high stock yield	27	dividend paying stock top	12
highest dividend stock	26	dividend funds mutual	12
dividend law new tax	25	company dividend paying	12
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Dividend

Language		Translations for "dividend"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		pjesë nga fitimi i kompanisë, para për t'u ndarë, i pjesëtueshëm (divisible, part, part time). (various references)

Arabic		‏مقسوم, ‏مبلغ يراد توزيعه, ‏حصة (allocation, allotment, class, class period, cut, lesson, lot, part, percentage, period, portion, proportion, quantum, ration, share, slice, whack), ‏المقسوم, ‏إيراد (income), ‏ربح موزع على المساهمين. (various references)

Bulgarian		лихва (increase, interest), премия (bonus, bouquet, prize), делимо, дивидент (divvy). (various references)

Chinese		股息, 紅利 (bonus). (various references)

Czech		dividenda, dìlenec. (various references)

Danish		dividende, dividend, udbytte (exploit, utilize), overskudsudlodning (distributed income for period, profit distribution), aktieudbytte. (various references)

Dutch		dividend (div.), div. (div., to be divided), deeltal, winstuitkering (distributed income for period, profit distribution). (various references)

Farsi		سودسهام (Revenue), سود (Advantage, Avail, Fruit, Gain, Good, Grist, Increment, Interest, Lucre, Profit, Utter). (various references)

Finnish		jaettava. (various references)

French		dividende. (various references)

German		gewinnanteil (percentage, share, share in profits), dividende, dividend. (various references)

Greek		μέρισμα (bonus). (various references)

Hebrew		מחולק (divided), �"יוי�"� �", רוחים (earnings, gainings, interest, profits, takings). (various references)

Hungarian		osztalék (cut, divident, divvy), osztandó (divident), jutalék (commission, divident, due, poundage, premia, premium). (various references)

Indonesian		gratifikasi (bonus). (various references)

Italian		dividendo (bonus, capital bonus). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		配�"金 , 配�" (share), 被除数 , 分配金 , 利益配�" (share of profits). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ひじょすう, ぶ�"ぱいき�", りえきはいとう (share of profits), はいとうき�", はいとう (carrying a sword, share). (various references)

Korean		배당금. (various references)

Manx		meer ronney, cooid ronney (allowance, portion). (various references)

Pig Latin		ividendday

Portuguese		dividendo (divvy). (various references)

Romanian		dividend (quota), deîmpãrţit. (various references)

Russian		делимое, дивиденд. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		dividenda, deljenik. (various references)

Spanish		dividendo. (various references)

Swedish		utdelning (administration, allotment, delivery, dispensation, distribution, issue, share out), dividend. (various references)

Thai		เงินปันผล. (various references)

Turkish		kâr payı (bonus, percent, percentage, premium, share), iflas halinde alacaklılara ödenen pay, bölünen sayı. (various references)

Ukrainian		частина (Cantle, half, part, portion, proportion, quantum, quotient, section, segment, share, side, snick, strand), дивідент. (various references)

Vietnamese		phiếu lĩnh tiền lãi cổ phần (dividend-warrant). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Dividend

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	dividendum. (various references)
Middle French	1400-1600	dividende. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Dividend

Derivations
	Words beginning with "dividend": dividendless, dividends. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Dividend" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: divedend, dividen. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Dividend"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "dividend" (pronounced di"vude'nd)
3	-e' n d	bookend, boyfriend, downtrend, girlfriend, godsend, hornblende, outspend, overspend, pitchblende, uptrend, weekend.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Dividend

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "d-d-d-e-i-i-n-v"
	-1 letter: divided, divined.
	-2 letters: divide, divine.
	-3 letters: didie, dined, dived, indie, ivied, nided, vined.
	-4 letters: deni, died, dine, dive, nevi, nide, nidi, vein, vend, vide, vied, vine.
	-5 letters: den, dev, did, die, din, end, vie.
	Words containing the letters "d-d-d-e-i-i-n-v"
	+1 letter: dividends, undivided.
	+3 letters: dividedness.
	+4 letters: dividendless, individuated.
	+5 letters: dividednesses.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.