Industry \In"dus*try\, n.; pl. Industries. [L. industria, cf.
   industrius diligent; of uncertain origin: cf. F. industrie.]
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   1. Habitual diligence in any employment or pursuit, either
      bodily or mental; steady attention to business; assiduity;
      -- opposed to sloth and idleness; as, industry pays
      debts, while idleness or despair will increase them.
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            We are more industrious than our forefathers,
            because in the present times the funds destined for
            the maintenance of industry are much greater in
            proportion to those which are likely to be employed
            in the maintenance of idleness, than they were two
            or three centuries ago.               --A. Smith.
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   2. Any department or branch of art, occupation, or business;
      especially, one which employs much labor and capital and
      is a distinct branch of trade; as, the sugar industry; the
      iron industry; the cotton industry.
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   3. (Polit. Econ.) Human exertion of any kind employed for the
      creation of value, and regarded by some as a species of
      capital or wealth; labor.

   Syn: Diligence; assiduity; perseverance; activity;
        laboriousness; attention. See Diligence.
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