economy

ECON'OMY, noun [Latin oeconomia; Gr. house, and law, rule.] 1. Primarily, the management, regulation and government of a family or the concerns of a household. 2. The management of pecuniary concerns or the expenditure of money. Hence, 3. A frugal and judicious use of money; that management which expends money to advantage, and incurs no waste; frugality in the necessary expenditure of money. It differs from parsimony, which implies an improper saving of expense. economy includes also a prudent management of all the means by which property is saved or accumulated; a judicious application of time, of labor, and of the instruments of labor. 4. The disposition or arrangement of any work; as the economy of a poem. 5. A system of rules, regulations, rites and ceremonies; as the Jewish economy 6. The regular operation of nature in the generation, nutrition and preservation of animals or plants; as animal economy; vegetable economy 7. Distribution or due order of things. 8. Judicious and frugal management of public affairs; as political economy 9. System of management; general regulation and disposition of the affairs of a state or nation, or of any department of government.