Ad*van"tage (?; 61, 48), n. [OE.
avantage, avauntage, F. avantage, fr. avant
before. See Advance, and cf. Vantage.] 1.
Any condition, circumstance, opportunity, or means, particularly
favorable to success, or to any desired end; benefit; as, the enemy had the
advantage of a more elevated position.
Give me advantage of some brief discourse.
Shak.
The advantages of a close alliance.
Macaulay.
2. Superiority; mastery; -- with of or
over.
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us.
2 Cor. ii. 11.
3. Superiority of state, or that which gives it;
benefit; gain; profit; as, the advantage of a good
constitution.
4. Interest of money; increase; overplus (as the
thirteenth in the baker's dozen). [Obs.]
And with advantage means to pay thy love.
Shak.
Advantage ground, vantage ground. [R.]
Clarendon. -- To have the advantage of (any one),
to have a personal knowledge of one who does not have a reciprocal
knowledge. "You have the advantage of me; I don't remember
ever to have had the honor." Sheridan. -- To take advantage
of, to profit by; (often used in a bad sense) to overreach,
to outwit.
Syn. -- Advantage, Advantageous, Benefit,
Beneficial. We speak of a thing as a benefit, or as
beneficial, when it is simply productive of good; as, the
benefits of early discipline; the beneficial effects of
adversity. We speak of a thing as an advantage, or as
advantageous, when it affords us the means of getting forward, and
places us on a "vantage ground" for further effort. Hence, there is a
difference between the benefits and the advantages of early
education; between a beneficial and an advantageous
investment of money.
Ad*van"tage, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Advantaged (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Advantaging (?).] [F. avantager, fr. avantage. See
Advance.] To give an advantage to; to further; to promote; to
benefit; to profit.
The truth is, the archbishop's own stiffness and averseness
to comply with the court designs, advantaged his adversaries against
him.
Fuller.
What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world,
and lose himself, or be cast away?
Luke ix. 25.
To advantage one's self of, to avail one's self
of. [Obs.]