expense

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Something spent to attain a goal or accomplish a purpose: an expense of time and energy on the project.
2. n. A loss for the sake of something gained; a sacrifice: achieved speed at the expense of accuracy.
3. n. An expenditure of money; a cost: an improvement that was well worth the expense; a trip with all expenses paid.
4. n. Charges incurred by an employee in the performance of work: was reimbursed for her travel expenses.
5. n. Informal Money allotted for payment of such charges.
6. n. Something requiring the expenditure of money: Redecorating the house will be a considerable expense.
7. n. Archaic The act of expending.
8. v. To charge with expenses.
9. v. To write off as an expense.
10. idiom. at (one's) expense To one's detriment or chagrin: telling jokes at my expense.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A laying out or expending; the disbursing of money; employment and consumption, as of time or labor; expenditure.
2. n. Specifically Great or undue expenditure; prodigality.
3. n. That which is expended, laid out, or consumed; especially, money expended; cost; charge: as, a prudent man limits his expenses by his income.
4. n. Cost through diminution or deterioration; damage or loss from any detracting cause, especially a moral one: preceded by at: as, he did this at the expense of his character.
5. To charge or debit with an item of incurred expense to be collected from the proper party and accounted for by the chargee: used chiefly in dealings between express or railway companies or their agencies.

Wiktionary

1. n. A spending or consuming. Often specifically an act of disbursing or spending funds.
2. n. That which is expended, laid out, or consumed. Sometimes with the notion of loss or damage to those on whom the expense falls.
3. n. obsolete Loss.
4. v. transitive To charge a cost against an expense account; to bill something to the company for which one works.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A spending or consuming; disbursement; expenditure.
2. n. That which is expended, laid out, or consumed; cost; outlay; charge; -- sometimes with the notion of loss or damage to those on whom the expense falls.
3. n. obsolete Loss.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a detriment or sacrifice
2. n. money spent to perform work and usually reimbursed by an employer
3. v. reduce the estimated value of something
4. n. amounts paid for goods and services that may be currently tax deductible (as opposed to capital expenditures)