Merit

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Merit \Mer"it\, n. [F. m['e]rite, L. meritum, fr. merere,
     mereri, to deserve, merit; prob. originally, to get a share;
     akin to Gr. ? part, ? fate, doom, ? to receive as one's
     portion. Cf. {Market}, {Merchant}, {Mercer}, {Mercy}.]
     1. The quality or state of deserving well or ill; desert.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              Here may men see how sin hath his merit. --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought
              For things that others do; and when we fall,
              We answer other's merits in our name. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Esp. in a good sense: The quality or state of deserving
        well; worth; excellence.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Reputation is . . . oft got without merit, and lost
              without deserving.                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known,
              And every author's merit, but his own. --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or
        approbation; as, his teacher gave him ten merits.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth.
                                                    --Prior.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Merit \Mer"it\, v. i.
     To acquire desert; to gain value; to receive benefit; to
     profit. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Merit \Mer"it\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Merited}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Meriting}.] [F. m['e]riter, L. meritare, v. intens. fr.
     merere. See {Merit}, n.]
     1. To earn by service or performance; to have a right to
        claim as reward; to deserve; sometimes, to deserve in a
        bad sense; as, to merit punishment. "This kindness merits
        thanks." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To reward. [R. & Obs.] --Chapman.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  merit
       n 1: any admirable quality or attribute; "work of great merit"
            [syn: {virtue}] [ant: {demerit}]
       2: the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance);
          "there were many children whose deservingness he
          recognized and rewarded" [syn: {deservingness}, {meritoriousness}]
       v : be worthy or deserving; "You deserve a promotion after all
           the hard work you have done" [syn: {deserve}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  96 Moby Thesaurus words for "merit":
     accent, advantage, advantageousness, agreeableness, arete, assets,
     auspiciousness, award, be deserving, be entitled to, be worthy of,
     beneficialness, benevolence, benignity, caliber, class, cogency,
     comeuppance, concern, concernment, consequence, consequentiality,
     consideration, desert, deserts, deserve, deserving, due,
     due reward, dues, earn, emphasis, entitle, excellence, excellency,
     expedience, fairness, favorableness, fineness, first-rateness,
     good, goodliness, goodness, grace, healthiness, helpfulness,
     high order, high rank, import, importance, interest, just deserts,
     justify, kindness, mark, materiality, merits, moment, niceness,
     note, paramountcy, perfection, pleasantness, precedence,
     preeminence, primacy, priority, profitableness, quality, rate,
     recompense, repay, requite, reward, rewardingness, rights,
     self-importance, significance, skillfulness, soundness, stature,
     stress, strong point, superiority, supremacy, usefulness, validity,
     value, virtue, virtuousness, warrant, weight, wholeness, winnings,
     worth, worthiness
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MERITS. This word is used principally in matters of defence.
       2. A defence upon the merits, is one that rests upon the justice of the 
  cause, and not upon technical grounds only; there is, therefore, a 
  difference between a good defence, which may be technical or not, and a 
  defence on the merits. 5 B. & Ald. 703 1 Ashm. R. 4; 5 John. R. 536; Id. 
  360; 3 John. R. 245 Id. 449; 6 John. R. 131; 4 John. R. 486; 2 Cowen, R. 
  281; 7 Cowen, R. 514; 6 Wend. R. 511; 6 Cowen, R. 895.