Definition: bounty

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

bounty
     n 1: payment or reward (esp from a government) for acts such as
          catching criminals or killing predatory animals or
          enlisting in the military [syn: premium]
     2: the property of copious abundance [syn: amplitude, bountifulness]
     3: generosity evidenced by a willingness to give freely [syn: bounteousness]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Bounty \Boun"ty\, n.; pl. Bounties. [OE. bounte goodness,
   kindness, F. bont['e], fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for
   older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
   1. Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [Obs.]

            Nature set in her at once beauty with bounty.
                                                  --Gower.

   2. Liberality in bestowing gifts or favors; gracious or
      liberal giving; generosity; munificence.

            My bounty is as boundless as the sea. --Shak.

   3. That which is given generously or liberally. ``Thy morning
      bounties.'' --Cowper.

   4. A premium offered or given to induce men to enlist into
      the public service; or to encourage any branch of
      industry, as husbandry or manufactures.

   Bounty jumper, one who, during the latter part of the Civil
      War, enlisted in the United States service, and deserted
      as soon as possible after receiving the bounty. [Collog.]
      

   Queen Anne's bounty (Eng. Hist.), a provision made in Queen
      Anne's reign for augmenting poor clerical livings.

   Syn: Munificence; generosity; beneficence.

BOUNTY, n.  The liberality of one who has much, in permitting one who
has nothing to get all that he can.

        A single swallow, it is said, devours ten millions of insects
    every year.  The supplying of these insects I take to be a signal
    instance of the Creator's bounty in providing for the lives of His
    creatures.
                                                    Henry Ward Beecher