Definition of "dividend"

dividend

/ˈdɪvɪdɛnd/

noun
plural dividends
1. (finance) A cash payment of money by a company to its shareholders, usually made periodically (e.g., quarterly or annually).
2. (arithmetic) A number or expression that is to be divided by another.
3. (figuratively) Beneficial results from a metaphorical investment (of time, effort, etc.)
  Quotations
  That blood and pain paid a dividend, too, even when the subject wasn't a sorcerer.
  2012, Cameron Haley, Retribution‎
  The money I'd spent on getting scuba certified was about to pay a dividend. My half-baked escape plan came together.
  2014, Bobby Adair, Slow Burn: Dead Fire, Book 4:‎
  'Why not: you, Elvira, will shortly pay a dividend, that is, have a child.'
  2016, Christina Stead, The Beauties and Furies‎, page 163
verb
third-person singular simple present dividends, present participle dividending, simple past and past participle dividended
1. To pay out a dividend.
  Quotations
  He held instead that the words "sell or otherwise dispose of" in Clause 2 of the Shareholders' Agreement prevented the dividending of the shares in Hawker Holdings to the shareholders of Hawker Siddeley […]
  1997, Shareholder Rights, Oppression and Good Faith, page 40
  Therefore, $125 million of 1983 Preferred Shares (Blue Jay) would be tendered for retirement with $135 million of the $370 million dividended up to Blue Jay.
  2007, Kevin K. Boeh, Paul W. Beamish, Mergers and Acquisitions: Text and Cases, page 324