share meaning
- Have in common
"Our children share a love of music"; "The two countries share a long border" - Use jointly or in common
- Have, give, or receive a share of
"We shared the cake"
- partake, partake in - Give out as one's portion or share
- divvy up, portion out, apportion, deal, divvy - Communicate
"I'd like to share this idea with you"
- Assets belonging to or due to or contributed by an individual person or group
"he wanted his share in cash"
- portion, part, percentage - Any of the equal portions into which the capital stock of a corporation is divided and ownership of which is evidenced by a stock certificate
"he bought 100 shares of IBM at the market price" - The allotment of some amount by dividing something
"death gets more than its share of attention from theologians"
- parcel, portion - The part played by a person in bringing about a result
"they all did their share of the work"
- contribution, part - A sharp steel wedge that cuts loose the top layer of soil
- plowshare [N. Amer], ploughshare [Brit, Cdn]
Derived forms: sharing, shared, shares
Type of: acquire, allocation, allotment, apply, apportioning, apportionment, assets, assignation, attempt, communicate, distribute, effort, employ, endeavor [US], endeavour [Brit, Cdn], get, give out, hand out, intercommunicate, overlap, parceling [US], parcelling, pass out, stock, stock certificate, try, use, utilise [Brit], utilize, wedge
Part of: earnings, lucre, moldboard plow [N. Amer], mouldboard plough [Brit, Cdn], net, net income, net profit, profit, profits, stock
Encyclopedia: Share
[Business]
AmE / noun, verb
■ noun [C]
A/B/C SHARE, ALL-SHARE, ASSET VALUE PER SHARE, AUTHORIZED SHARE, B SHARE, BRAND SHARE, BONUS SHARE, C SHARE, CAPITAL GROWTH SHARE, CAPITAL SHARE, COMMON SHARE, COMPANY LIMITED BY SHARE, CUMULATIVE PREFERENCE SHARE, DEFERRED SHARE, EARNINGS PER SHARE, EQUITY SHARE, EXCHANGE OF SHARE, FULLY PAID SHARE, FTSE ALL-SHARE INDEX, GOLDEN SHARE, GROWTH SHARE, INCOME SHARE, LION'S SHARE, MARKET SHARE, NET ASSET VALUE PER SHARE, NEW SHARE, ORDINARY SHARE, OUTSTANDING SHARE, PAID-UP SHARE, PARTLY PAID SHARE, PENNY SHARE, PREFERENCE SHARE, SPLIT SHARE, UNIT SHARE, UNQUOTED SHARE, VALUE SHARE, VOTING SHARE
1 (Finance )
any of the units of equal value into which a company is divided and sold to raise money. People who own shares become owners of the company and receive part of the company's profits:
shares in British Airways
The retailer will issue 24 million new shares worth €3 billion.
Will this affect the value of my shares?
allegations of illegal share dealings See note at STOCK
❖ to acquire/buy/have/hold/own/sell shares
◆ to allocate/allot shares
◆ to deal in/invest in/trade in shares
◆ to float/issue shares
2
one part of sth that is divided between two or more people, businesses, etc:
Next year we hope to have a bigger share of the market.
Channel 5 had a 7.5% share of advertising revenue last year.
a big/growing/increased/large/small share
3
the part that sb has in a particular activity that involves several people:
Everybody on the team has done their share of the work.
IDIOMS
share of mind (Marketing )
how aware people are of a particular brand or product compared with other brands or products of the same type:
We are competing with each other to capture the largest share of mind.
FRONT noun
WHICH WORD?
share/stock
Either shares [plural] or stock [U] can be used to describe the amount of a company that a person owns or a company's value on the stock exchange. In this sense, share is more common in BrE and stock more common in AmE:
The bank holds 60% of the company's shares/stock. • The publisher's stock rose to $27.87 a share.
As a countable noun in both BrE and AmE, especially in the plural, stock can refer to the shares of a particular company or type of company:
the largest 500 stocks on the NYSE • technology stocks. Share is less commonly used in this way.
Share, not stock, is used when talking about a particular number of shares in both BrE and AmE:
a profit of $3.75 a share • 1.2 billion shares
In BrE, the phrase stocks and shares means 'bonds and shares'. This meaning of stock is also found in other phrases:
a company's loan stock • government stock. The AmE expression for 'bonds and shares' is stocks and bonds.
See note at STOCK
■ verb
1 [+ obj or no obj]
to have or use sth at the same time as sb else:
I share an office with two other people.
⇨ JOB-SHARING
2 [+ obj] share sth (out)
to divide sth between two or more people:
Profits are shared out yearly.
3 [+ obj or no obj]
to give some of what you have to sb else; to let sb use sth that is yours:
The conference is a good place to share information and ideas with colleagues from other branches.
4 [+ obj or no obj]
to be equally involved in sth or responsible for sth:
We must share responsibility for the mistake.
Everyone shares in the work.
[Economics]
One of a number of titles of ownership in a company. Most companies are limited by shares, thus an investor can limit his liability if the company fails to the amount paid for (or owing on) the shares. A share confers on its owner a legal right to the part of the company's profits (usually by payment of a dividend) and to any voting rights attaching to that share (see voting shares, A shares). Companies are obliged to keep a public record of the rights attaching to each class of share. The common classes of shares are: ordinary shares, which have no guaranteed amount of dividend but carry voting rights; and preference shares, which receive dividends (and/or repayment of capital on winding-up) before ordinary shares, but which have no voting rights. Shares in public companies may be bought and sold in an open market, such as a stock exchange. Shares in a private company are generally subject to restrictions on sale, such as that they must be offered to existing shareholders first or that the directors' approval must be sought before they are sold elsewhere.
See also:
[Law]
n. A unit that measures the holder's interest in and liability to a company. Because an incorporated company is in law a separate entity from the company membership, it is possible to divide and sell that entity in specified units (see (NOMINAL) CAPITAL). In the case of a company limited by shares (see LIMITED COMPANY) the liability of shareholders is confined to the purchase price of the shares. Once purchased, these units of the company become intangible property in their own right and can be bought and sold as an activity distinct from the trading activities of the company in question. While the company is a going concern, shares carry rights in relation to voting and sharing profits (see DIVIDEND). When a limited company is wound up the shareholders have rights to share in the assets after debts have been paid. If there are no such assets shareholders lose the amount of their investment but are not liable for the company's debts (see FRAUDULENT TRADING; WRONGFUL TRADING).
Preference shares usually carry a right to a fixed percentage dividend, e.g. 10% of the nominal value (see AUTHORIZED CAPITAL), before ordinary shareholders receive anything and holders also have the right to the return of the nominal value of their shares before ordinary shareholders (but after creditors). Holders of participating preference shares have further rights to share surplus profits or assets with the ordinary shareholders. Preference shares are generally cumulative, i.e. if no dividend is declared in one year, holders are entitled to arrears when eventually one is paid. Usually preference shareholders can vote only when their class rights are being varied.
Ordinary shares constitute the risk capital (also called equity capital), as they carry no prior rights in relation to dividends or return of nominal value. However, the rights they do carry are unlimited in extent: if the company is successful, the ordinary shareholders are not restricted to a fixed dividend (unlike the preference shareholders) and the high yield upon their shares will cause these to increase in value. Similarly, if there are surplus assets on a winding-up, the ordinary shareholders will take what is left after the preference shareholders have been satisfied. Because ordinary shareholders carry the risk of the enterprise, they generally have full voting rights in a general meeting (though some companies issue nonvoting ordinary shares to raise additional capital without diluting the control of the company).
Redeemable shares are issued subject to the proviso that they will or may be bought back (at the option of the shareholder or the company) by the company. They cannot be bought back unless fully paid-up and then only out of profits (see CAPITAL REDEMPTION RESERVE) or the proceeds of a fresh issue of shares made for the purpose.
A golden share enables the holder, usually the government, to outvote all other shareholders on certain types of company resolution.
[Computer]
1. Commonly found at the end of software release announcements and README files, this phrase indicates allegiance to the hacker ethic of free information sharing (see hacker ethic).
2. The motto of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation (the ultimate gaggle of incompetent suits) in Douglas Adams's "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The irony of using this as a cultural recognition signal appeals to freeware hackers.
- a-share: [Economics]An ordi ...
- share and share alike: 1. Give everyone h ...
- share-for-share offer: [Economics]A takeo ...
Examples
More: Next- we unite to pursue a shared objective.
- what does your share of the bonus work out at?
- let me go shares with you in the taxi fare.
- everybody gets his share of bloody noses.
- my bank deals in stocks and shares now.
