PRE'MIUM, noun [Latin] Properly, a reward or recompense; a prize to be won by competition; the reward or prize to be adjudged to the best performance or production.

1. The recompense or prize offered for a specific discovery or for success in an enterprise; as for the discovery of the longitude, or of a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean.

2. A bounty; something offered or given for the loan of money, usually a sum beyond the interest.

3. The recompense to underwriters for insurance, or for undertaking to indemnify for losses of any kind.

4. It is sometimes synonymous with interest, but generally in obtaining loans, it is a sum per cent. distinct from the interest.

The bank lends money to government at a premium of 2 per cent.

5. A bounty.

The law that obliges parishes to support the poor, offers a premium for the encouragement of idleness.