BOUNTY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Bounty mean? 

• BOUNTY (noun)
  The noun BOUNTY has 4 senses:

1. payment or reward (especially from a government) for acts such as catching criminals or killing predatory animals or enlisting in the military

2. the property of copious abundance

3. generosity evidenced by a willingness to give freely

4. a ship of the British navy; in 1789 part of the crew mutinied against their commander William Bligh and set him afloat in an open boat

  Familiarity information: BOUNTY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOUNTY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Payment or reward (especially from a government) for acts such as catching criminals or killing predatory animals or enlisting in the military

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

bounty; premium

Hypernyms ("bounty" is a kind of...):

reward (payment made in return for a service rendered)

Domain category:

administration; governance; governing; government; government activity (the act of governing; exercising authority)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The property of copious abundance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

amplitude; bountifulness; bounty

Hypernyms ("bounty" is a kind of...):

abundance; copiousness; teemingness (the property of a more than adequate quantity or supply)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Generosity evidenced by a willingness to give freely

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bounteousness; bounty

Hypernyms ("bounty" is a kind of...):

generosity; generousness (the trait of being willing to give your money or time)

Derivation:

bounteous (given or giving freely)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A ship of the British navy; in 1789 part of the crew mutinied against their commander William Bligh and set him afloat in an open boat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

Bounty; H.M.S. Bounty

Instance hypernyms:

ship (a vessel that carries passengers or freight)

 Context examples 

I think, Sir Fernando, since the prince's bounty is stretched so far, that we may make further use of his gracious goodness to the extent of fifty thousand crowns.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“What is the use of building fresh ships,” cried Foley, “when even with a ten-pound bounty you can’t man the ships that you have got?”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Or you may be given a beautiful, valuable gift of jewelry, stock, or cash, for Jupiter is strongly associated with financial bounty.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I wonder at the goodness of God; the generosity of my friends; the bounty of my lot. I do not repine.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She embraced Elizabeth and said in a voice of half-suppressed emotion, Farewell, sweet lady, dearest Elizabeth, my beloved and only friend; may heaven, in its bounty, bless and preserve you; may this be the last misfortune that you will ever suffer!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my late honoured father always gave me much uneasiness, and since I have had the misfortune to lose him, I have frequently wished to heal the breach; but for some time I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be on good terms with anyone with whom it had always pleased him to be at variance.—'There, Mrs. Bennet.'—My mind, however, is now made up on the subject, for having received ordination at Easter, I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England. As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being next in the entail of Longbourn estate will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered olive-branch. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends—but of this hereafter. If you should have no objection to receive me into your house, I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family, Monday, November 18th, by four o'clock, and shall probably trespass on your hospitality till the Saturday se'ennight following, which I can do without any inconvenience, as Lady Catherine is far from objecting to my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided that some other clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The stout old English counsellor looked somewhat blank at this prompt acceptance of his master's bounty.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You have an entire year of financial bounty due!

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Nature had surely formed her in a partial mood; and, forgetting her usual stinted step-mother dole of gifts, had endowed this, her darling, with a grand-dame's bounty.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“God's benison upon thy bounty!” cried the stranger.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)