DCHP-3

bonus

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

2v.

to subsidize.

Type: 5. Frequency — The verb bonus is used to describe the act of offering 'extra money, property or stock as an inducement to build or establish something' (see DCHP-1, s.v. "bonus"). The term likely derives from the noun "bonus", as one of its senses is "a government subsidy to an industry" (see W-3, AHD-5, ITP Nelson). Its use in Canada is likely a result of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, hence the expression "bonus the line" (see 1883 quotation). Accordingly, Gage-5 defines bonus as 'offer a bonus for (work to be done, as for the construction of a railway line); subsidize' which is mared Canadian and derives from ( L bonus good) . Similarly the OED's earliest attestation for this verbial form concerns railroads and how they have been "bonused by State money and land grants".
See also Gage-1, s.v. "bonus" (v.), which is marked "Cdn.".

Quotations

1882
Ald. BOSWELL said it was the feeling of the people who had bonused the line that it should be kept an independent road.
1883
In connection therewith it is rumored that the Hudson's Bay Company have bonused the line to the extent of half their land in Goschen.
1893
During the preliminary work of promotion and selection of a route for the Parry [xxx] road, a meeting was held in one of the villages of the district to consider the question of location, and at the meeting it was considered that the interest of cattle and cheapness of construction should be left to determine the matter; two men, [xxx], were there who wrote and signed a petition to the government that if the road did not come to the village of [xxx], the government should not bonus the road. These two men should belong to the council of the board of trade.
1896
The principle of bonussing is abhorrent to most of us. . . .
1904
The country takes no risk in the transaction, because every cent of investment is secured by first mortgage, while the company risks its investment on the success of the enterprise. The position is entirely different from that of other railroad enterprises in Canada, notably the Canadian Pacific Railway, where the Government bonused the company to the full amount of the cost of the road, permitted it to be bonded for an equal or greater amount, and took no security for a cent of bonus, and especially divested itself any power of control.
1906
It was a good agricultural and mining section and many of the lands had already been granted to the Kootenay Valley Company and the Government had bonused a good steamboat service on the Columbia river and there were excellent roads in the district. It was not the intention of the Government to bonus the K.C.R., it already had a Dominion bonus and he had every reason to believe that the railway would very soon be built without Provincial aid.
1929
The trouble is that we haven't got our own markets protected." Why, he asked, if the Government bonused Hydro, education and agriculture, should it not also bonus the steel industry?
1955
. . . Sweden does bonus milk consumption and . . . most enlightened countries are today seeing that milk . . . is available to schools. . . .

References

  • Gage-5
  • Gage-1
  • Gage-3