leverage

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The action of a lever.
2. n. The mechanical advantage of a lever.
3. n. Positional advantage; power to act effectively: "started his . . . career with far more social leverage than his father had enjoyed” ( Doris Kearns Goodwin).
4. n. The use of credit or borrowed funds to improve one's speculative capacity and increase the rate of return from an investment, as in buying securities on margin.
5. v. To provide (a company) with leverage.
6. v. To supplement (money, for example) with leverage.
7. v. To improve or enhance: "It makes more sense to be able to leverage what we [public radio stations] do in a more effective way to our listeners” ( Delano Lewis).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The action of a lever; the arrangement by which lever-power is gained.
2. n. Lever-power; the mechanical advantage or power gained by using a lever.
3. n. Figuratively, advantage for accomplishing a purpose; increased power of action.

Wiktionary

1. n. A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot; see torque.
2. n. By extension, any influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage.
3. n. finance The use of borrowed funds with a contractually determined return to increase the ability of a business to invest and earn an expected higher return, but usually at high risk.
4. n. business The ability to earn very high returns when operating at high capacity utilization of a facility.
5. v. transitive, business To use; to exploit; to take full advantage (of something).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The action of a lever; mechanical advantage gained by the lever.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. supplement with leverage
2. n. the mechanical advantage gained by being in a position to use a lever
3. v. provide with leverage
4. n. investing with borrowed money as a way to amplify potential gains (at the risk of greater losses)
5. n. strategic advantage; power to act effectively