prime cost

American  

noun

1. that part of the cost of a commodity deriving from the labor and materials directly utilized in its manufacture.

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prime cost British  

noun

1. Also called: variable cost.  the portion of the cost of a commodity that varies directly with the amount of it produced, principally comprising materials and labour Compare overheads

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Etymology

Origin of prime cost

First recorded in 1710–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prime cost

Labor is indeed a prime cost factor in an industry that has never been able to mechanize to any great extent.

From Time Magazine Archive

To sum up, worm conveyors are of the simplest construction and of small prime cost.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 "Convention" to "Copyright" by Various

The Collins steamers have been running but six years, and yet their repairs have amounted in all to more than the prime cost of the ships, or to about eighteen per cent. per annum.

From Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post by Thomas Rainey

Partial loss upon either ship or goods, is that proportion of the prime cost which is equal to the diminution in value occasioned by the damage.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher

The exportation of, subjected to a duty higher than the prime cost of, at the pit, 273.

From An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Germain Garnier