premium

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A prize or award.
2. n. Something offered free or at a reduced price as an inducement to buy something else.
3. n. A sum of money or bonus paid in addition to a regular price, salary, or other amount.
4. n. The amount paid, often in addition to the interest, to obtain a loan.
5. n. The amount paid or payable, often in installments, for an insurance policy.
6. n. The amount at which something is valued above its par or nominal value, as money or securities.
7. n. The amount at which a securities option is bought or sold.
8. n. Payment for training in a trade or profession.
9. n. An unusual or high value: Employers put a premium on honesty and hard work.
10. adj. Of superior quality or value: premium gasoline.
11. idiom. at a premium More valuable than usual, as from scarcity: Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A reward; a recompense given for a particular action or line of conduct. Specifically— A prize to be won by competition.
2. n. That which is given for the loan of money; interest.
3. n. In insurance, the amount paid or agreed to be paid in one sum or periodically to insurers as the consideration for a contract of insurance. See insurance, 2.
4. n. In banking and currency, the difference by which the value of one metallic currency exceeds that of another of the same denomination, or by which a metallic currency exceeds a paper currency of the same denomination in the same country; agio: the opposite of discount, or disagio, which is the amount by which the value of one currency has depreciated when compared with another. Thus, during the civil war in the United States, when $125 in paper currency was demanded for $100 in gold, the gold dollar was said to be at a premium of 25, as compared with paper, but it might more correctly be said that paper was at a discount of 20 per cent, as compared with gold.
5. n. In stock-broking, etc., the percentage of difference by which the market price of shares, stocks, bonds, etc., exceeds their face-value or the sum originally paid for them: thus, when stock originally issued at $100 per share sells at $140 per share, it is said to be at a premium of 40 per cent.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Superior in quality; higher in price or value.
2. n. A prize or award.
3. n. Something offered at a reduced price as an inducement to buy something else.
4. n. A bonus paid in addition to normal payments.
5. n. The amount to be paid for an insurance policy.
6. n. An unusually high value.
7. n. finance The amount by which a security's value exceeds its face value.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A reward or recompense; a prize to be won by being before another, or others, in a competition; reward or prize to be adjudged; a bounty
2. n. Something offered or given for the loan of money; bonus; -- sometimes synonymous with interest, but generally signifying a sum in addition to the capital.
3. n. A sum of money paid to underwriters for insurance, or for undertaking to indemnify for losses of any kind.
4. n. A sum in advance of, or in addition to, the nominal or par value of anything

WordNet 3.0

1. n. payment or reward (especially from a government) for acts such as catching criminals or killing predatory animals or enlisting in the military
2. n. a prize, bonus, or award given as an inducement to purchase products, enter competitions initiated by business interests, etc.
3. adj. having or reflecting superior quality or value
4. n. the amount that something in scarce supply is valued above its nominal value
5. n. payment for insurance
6. n. a fee charged for exchanging currencies