interest

interest
    n 1: a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or
         something; "an interest in music" [syn: {interest},
         {involvement}]
    2: a reason for wanting something done; "for your sake"; "died
       for the sake of his country"; "in the interest of safety";
       "in the common interest" [syn: {sake}, {interest}]
    3: the power of attracting or holding one's attention (because
       it is unusual or exciting etc.); "they said nothing of great
       interest"; "primary colors can add interest to a room" [syn:
       {interest}, {interestingness}] [ant: {uninterestingness}]
    4: a fixed charge for borrowing money; usually a percentage of
       the amount borrowed; "how much interest do you pay on your
       mortgage?"
    5: (law) a right or legal share of something; a financial
       involvement with something; "they have interests all over the
       world"; "a stake in the company's future" [syn: {interest},
       {stake}]
    6: (usually plural) a social group whose members control some
       field of activity and who have common aims; "the iron
       interests stepped up production" [syn: {interest}, {interest
       group}]
    7: a diversion that occupies one's time and thoughts (usually
       pleasantly); "sailing is her favorite pastime"; "his main
       pastime is gambling"; "he counts reading among his
       interests"; "they criticized the boy for his limited
       pursuits" [syn: {pastime}, {interest}, {pursuit}]
    v 1: excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of [ant:
         {bore}, {tire}]
    2: be on the mind of; "I worry about the second Germanic
       consonant shift" [syn: {concern}, {interest}, {occupy},
       {worry}]
    3: be of importance or consequence; "This matters to me!" [syn:
       {matter to}, {interest}]
    

Interest \In"ter*est\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Interested}; p. pr.
   & vb. n. {Interesting}.] [From interess'd, p. p. of the older
   form interess, fr. F. int['e]resser, L. interesse. See
   {Interest}, n.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To engage the attention of; to awaken interest in; to
      excite emotion or passion in, in behalf of a person or
      thing; as, the subject did not interest him; to interest
      one in charitable work.
      [1913 Webster]

            To love our native country . . . to be interested in
            its concerns is natural to all men.   --Dryden.
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            A goddess who used to interest herself in marriages.
                                                  --Addison.
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   2. To be concerned with or engaged in; to affect; to concern;
      to excite; -- often used impersonally. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Or rather, gracious sir,
            Create me to this glory, since my cause
            Doth interest this fair quarrel.      --Ford.
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   3. To cause or permit to share. [Obs.]
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            The mystical communion of all faithful men is such
            as maketh every one to be interested in those
            precious blessings which any one of them receiveth
            at God's hands.                       --Hooker.

   Syn: To concern; excite; attract; entertain; engage; occupy;
        hold.
        [1913 Webster]
    

Interest \In"ter*est\, n. [OF. interest, F. int['e]r[^e]t, fr.
   L. interest it interests, is of interest, fr. interesse to be
   between, to be difference, to be importance; inter between +
   esse to be; cf. LL. interesse usury. See {Essence}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. Excitement of feeling, whether pleasant or painful,
      accompanying special attention to some object; concern; a
      desire to learn more about a topic or engage often in an
      activity.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

   Note: Interest expresses mental excitement of various kinds
         and degrees. It may be intellectual, or sympathetic and
         emotional, or merely personal; as, an interest in
         philosophical research; an interest in human suffering;
         the interest which an avaricious man takes in money
         getting.
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               So much interest have I in thy sorrow. --Shak.
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   2. (Finance, Commerce) Participation in advantage, profit,
      and responsibility; share; portion; part; as, an interest
      in a brewery; he has parted with his interest in the
      stocks.
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   3. Advantage, personal or general; good, regarded as a
      selfish benefit; profit; benefit.
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            Divisions hinder the common interest and public
            good.                                 --Sir W.
                                                  Temple.
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            When interest calls of all her sneaking train.
                                                  --Pope.
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   4. (Finance) A fee paid for the use of money; a fee paid for
      a loan; -- usually reckoned as a percentage; as, interest
      at five per cent per annum on ten thousand dollars.
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            They have told their money, and let out
            Their coin upon large interest.       --Shak.
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   5. Any excess of advantage over and above an exact equivalent
      for what is given or rendered.
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            You shall have your desires with interest. --Shak.
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   6. The persons interested in any particular business or
      measure, taken collectively; as, the iron interest; the
      cotton interest.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Compound interest}, interest, not only on the original
      principal, but also on unpaid interest from the time it
      fell due.

   {Simple interest}, interest on the principal sum without
      interest on overdue interest.
      [1913 Webster]
    

INTEREST, estates. The right which a man has in a chattel real, and more 
particularly in a future term. It is a word of less efficacy and extent than 
estates, though, in legal understanding, an interest extends to estates, 
rights and titles which a man has in or out of lands, so that by a grant of 
his whole interest in land, a reversion as well as the fee simple shall 
pass. Co. Litt. 345. 
    

INTEREST, contracts. The right of property which a man has in a thing, 
commonly called insurable interest. It is not easy to give all accurate 
definition of insurable interest. 1 Burr. 480; 1 Pet. R. 163; 12 Wend. 507 
16 Wend. 385; 16 Pick. 397; 13 Mass. 61, 96; 3 Day, 108; 1 Wash. C. C. Rep. 
409. 
     2. The policy of commerce and the various complicated. rights which 
different persons may have in the same thing, require that not only those 
who have an absolute property in ships and goods, but those also who have a 
qualified property therein, may be at liberty to insure them. For example, 
when a ship is mortgaged, after, the mortgage becomes absolute, the owner of 
the legal estate has an insurable interest, and the mortgagor, on account of 
his equity, has also an insurable interest. 2 T. R. 188 1 Burr. 489; 13 
Mass. 96; 10 Pick. 40 and see 1 T. R. 745; Marsh. Ins. h. t.; 6 Meeson & 
Welshy, 224. 
     3. A man may not only insure his own life for the benefit of his heirs 
or creditors, and assign the benefit of this insurance to others having thus 
or otherwise an interest in his life, but be may insure the life of another 
in which he may be interested. Marsh. Ins. Index, h. t.; Park, Ins. Index, 
h. t.; 1 Bell's Com. 629, 5th ed.; 9 East, R. 72. Vide Insurance. 
    

INTEREST, evidence. The benefit which a person has in the matter about to be 
decided and which is in issue between the parties. By the term benefit is 
here understood some pecuniary or other advantage, which if obtained, would 
increase the, witness estate, or some loss, which would decrease it. 
     2. It is a general rule that a party who has an interest in the cause 
cannot be a witness. It will be proper to consider this matter by taking a 
brief view of the thing or subject in dispute, which is the object of the 
interest; the quantity of interest; the quality of interest; when an 
interested witness can be examined; when the interest must exist; how an 
interested witness can be rendered competent. 
     3.-1. To be disqualified on the ground of interest, the witness must 
gain or lose by the event of the cause, or the verdict must be lawful 
evidence for or against him in another suit, or the record must be an 
instrument of evidence for or against him. 3 John. Cas. 83; 1 Phil. Ev. 36; 
Stark. Ev. pt. 4, p. 744. But an interest in the question does not 
disqualify the witness. 1 Caines, 171; 4 John. 302; 5 John. 255; 1 Serg. & 
R. 82, 36; 6 Binn. 266; 1 H. & M. 165, 168. 
     4.-2. The magnitude of the interest is altogether immaterial, even a 
liability for the most trifling costs will be sufficient. 5 T. R. 174; 2 
Vern. 317; 2 Greenl. 194; 11 John. 57. 
     5.-3. With regard to the quality, the interest must be legal, as 
contradistinguished from mere prejudice or bias, arising from relationship, 
friendship, or any of the numerous motives by which a witness may be 
supposed to be influenced. Leach, 154; 2 St. Tr. 334, 891; 2 Hawk. ch. 46, 
s. 25. It must be a present, certain, vested interest, and not uncertain and 
contingent. Dougl. 134; 2 P. Wms. 287; 3 S. & R. 132; 4 Binn. 83; 2 Yeates, 
200; 5 John. 256; 7 Mass. 25. And it must have been acquired without fraud. 
3 Camp. 380; l M. & S. 9; 1 T. R. 37. 
     6.-4. To the general rule that interest renders a witness 
incompetent, there are some exceptions. First. Although the witness may have 
an interest, yet if his interest is equally strong on the other side, and no 
more, the witness is reduced to a state of neutrality by an equipoise of 
interest, and the objection to his testimony ceases. 7 T. R. 480, 481, n.; 1 
Bibb, R. 298; 2 Mass. R. 108; 2 S. & R. 119; 6 Penn. St. Rep. 322. 
     7. Secondly. In some instances the law admits the testimony of one 
interested, from the extreme necessity of the case; upon this ground the 
servant of a tradesman is admitted to prove the delivery of goods and the 
payment of money, without any release from the master. 4 T. R. 490; 2 Litt. 
R. 27. 
     8.-5. The interest, to render the witness disqualified, must exist at 
the time of his examination. A deposition made at a time when the witness 
had no interest, may be read in evidence, although he has afterwards 
acquired an interest. 1 Hoff. R. 21. 
     9.-6. The objection to incompetency on the ground of interest may be 
removed by an extinguishment of that interest by means of a release, 
executed either by the witness, when he would receive an advantage by his 
testimony, or by those who have a claim upon him when his testimony would be 
evidence of his liability. The objection may also be removed by payment. 
Stark. Ev. pt. 4, p. 757. See Benth. Rationale of Jud. Ev. 628-692, where he 
combats the established doctrines of the law, as to the exclusion on the 
ground of interest; and Balance. 
    

INTEREST, MARITIME. By maritime interest is understood the profit of money 
lent on bottomry or respondentia, which is allowed to be greater than simple 
interest because the capital of the lender is put in jeopardy. There is no 
limit by law as to the amount which may be charged for maritime interest. It 
is fixed generally by the agreement of the parties. 
     2. The French writers employ a variety of terms in order to distinguish 
if according to the nature of the case. They call it interest, when it is 
stipulated to be paid by the month, or at other stated periods. It is a 
premium, when a gross sum is to be paid at the end of the voyage, and here 
the risk is the principal object they have in view. When the sum is a per 
centage on the money lent, they call it exchange, considering it in the 
light of money lent at one place to be returned in another, with a 
difference in amount between the sum borrowed and that which is paid, 
arising from the difference of time and place. When they intend to combine 
these various shades into one general denomination, they make use of the 
term maritime profit, to convey their meaning. Hall on Mar. Loans, 56, n. 
    

533 Moby Thesaurus words for "interest":
      absolute interest, absorb, absorption, accent, accrued dividends,
      accumulated dividends, acquisitiveness, activities, activity,
      advantage, advocacy, aegis, affair, affairs, affect,
      affect the interest, agacerie, allotment, allowance, allure,
      allurement, amusement, animate, answer to, appeal, appertain to,
      applicability, application, apply to, appositeness, appurtenance,
      arouse, attention, attentiveness, attract, attraction,
      attractiveness, auspices, authority, autism, avail, avocation, aye,
      backing, bag, bait, bank rate, be attractive, bear on, bear upon,
      bearing, beckon, beguilement, beguiling, behalf, behoof, belong to,
      benefit, benison, bewitchery, bewitchment, bias, big end,
      bigger half, birthright, bit, bite, blandishment, blessing, boon,
      breakaway group, bribe, bring, budget, business, cajolery, camp,
      campaign, capital gains, captivate, captivation, capture, care,
      careerism, carrot, carry, cash dividend, catch, catch up in,
      cathexis, caucus, cause, championship, charisma, charity, charm,
      charmingness, chunk, claim, cleanup, clear profit, come-hither,
      commerce, commission, commitment, common, compensatory interest,
      compound interest, con, concern, concernment, conjugal right,
      connect, connection, consequence, consequentiality, consideration,
      contingent, contingent interest, convenience, correspond to,
      countenance, crusade, cumulative dividend, curiosity, curious mind,
      curiousness, cut, deal, deal with, decide, demand, destiny,
      determine, discount rate, discrimination, dispose, diversion,
      dividend, dividends, divine right, division, doing, dole, drag,
      draw, draw in, drive, droit, due, earnings, easement, ego trip,
      egotism, embarrass, emphasis, employ, employment, enchantment,
      encouragement, end, engage, engagement, engross, engrossment,
      enlist, enmesh, entangle, enterprise, entertainment, enthrallment,
      enthusiasm, enticement, entrapment, equal share,
      equitable interest, equity, estate, ethnic group, excellence,
      excite, excite interest, excitement, exorbitant interest,
      extra dividend, faction, faculty, faith, fascinate, fascination,
      fate, favor, favoritism, fetch, fillip, filthy lucre, fire,
      flirtation, forbidden fruit, fosterage, function, gain, gains,
      germaneness, get, get to do, gettings, ghoulishness, glamour,
      gleanings, good, goodwill, graspingness, great cause, greed, gross,
      gross interest, gross profit, guidance, half, halver,
      have connection with, helping, high order, high rank, hoard, hobby,
      hold, holding, implicate, import, importance, inalienable right,
      incentive, incite, incitement, inclination, incline, income,
      individualism, induce, inducement, inequality, infect, influence,
      inquiring mind, inquisitiveness, inside track, interest group,
      interest in, interest rate, interestedness, interests,
      interim dividend, intrigue, inveiglement, investment, invitation,
      invite, involve, involve in, involvement, issue,
      itch for knowledge, job, killing, kindle, labor, lead, leaning,
      liaise with, lifework, limitation, link with, lively interest,
      lookout, lot, lucrative interest, lucre, lure, magnetism, makings,
      mark, mass movement, materiality, matter, matter of interest,
      measure, meddlesomeness, meed, melon, mental acquisitiveness,
      merit, mess, minority group, modicum, moiety, moment,
      morbid curiosity, mortgage points, move, movement, narcissism,
      natural right, nay, neat profit, nepotism, net, net interest,
      net profit, no, nosiness, note, notice, occupation, officiousness,
      offshoot, one-sidedness, optional dividend, paper profits,
      paramountcy, part, parti pris, partiality, participation,
      partisanism, partisanship, party, passion, pastime, patronage,
      payment, pelf, penal interest, percentage, perk, perks, perquisite,
      personal aims, personal ambition, personal desires, personalism,
      persuade, persuasive, pertain to, pertinence, phony dividend,
      pickings, piece, pique, plaque, plum, point, political party,
      portion, possessiveness, power, precedence, preeminence,
      preference, preferential treatment, premium, prerogative,
      prescription, pressure group, presumptive right, pretense,
      pretension, prevail upon, price, price of money, primacy,
      principle, priority, privatism, pro, proceeding, proceeds, procure,
      profit, profits, prompt, proper claim, property, property right,
      proportion, prosperity, provocation, provoke, prurience,
      prurient interest, prying, pull, pursuit, quantum, quicken, quota,
      rake-off, rate, rate of interest, ration, reason for being,
      receipts, refer to, reference, regard, regular dividend, relate to,
      relatedness, relaxation, relevance, remoteness, respect, return,
      returns, reward, right, right of entry, scopophilia, scrutiny,
      seconding, sect, seducement, seduction, seductiveness, segment,
      self-absorption, self-admiration, self-advancement,
      self-centeredness, self-consideration, self-containment,
      self-devotion, self-esteem, self-importance, self-indulgence,
      self-interest, self-interestedness, self-jealousy, self-occupation,
      self-pleasing, self-seeking, self-serving, self-solicitude,
      self-sufficiency, selfishness, selfism, service, settlement,
      sex appeal, share, side, significance, silent majority,
      simple interest, slice, small share, snare, snaring,
      special dividend, special favor, special interest, splinter,
      splinter group, sponsorship, stake, stimulate, stimulation,
      stimulative, stimulus, stock, stock dividend, store, stress,
      strict settlement, suck into, suction, summon, superiority,
      supremacy, sway, sweetener, sweetening, sympathy, take, take-in,
      talk into, tangle, tantalization, tantalize, tease, tempt,
      temptation, the affirmative, the negative, thing,
      thirst for knowledge, tickle, tie in with, titillate, title, touch,
      touch upon, transaction, treat of, trust, tutelage, undertaking,
      undetachment, undispassionateness, unneutrality, use, usury, value,
      vested interest, vested right, vocal minority, voyeurism, wealth,
      weight, welfare, well-being, whet, whet the appetite, wing,
      winning ways, winnings, winsomeness, witchery, wooing, work,
      world of good, worth