Discount

discount n. the payment of less than the full amount due on a promissory note or price for goods or services. Usually a discount is by agreement, and includes the common situation in which a holder of a long-term promissory note or material goods will sell it/them for less than face value in order to get cash now---the difference is the discount.

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DISCOUNT, practice. A set off, or defalcation in an action. Vin. Ab. h.t. DISCOUNT, contracts. An allowance made upon prompt payment in the purchase of goods; it is also the interest allowed in advancing money upon bills of exchange, or other negotiable securities due at a future time And to discount, signifies the act of buying a bill of exchange, or promissory note for a less sum than that which upon its face, is payable.
     2. Among merchants, the term used when a bill of exchange is transferred, is, that the bill is sold, and not that it is discounted. See Poth. De l'Usure, n. 128 3 Pet. R. 40.