To have the advantage of
(gcide) | Advantage \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.
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Give me advantage of some brief discourse. --Shak.
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The advantages of a close alliance. --Macaulay.
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2. Superiority; mastery; -- with of or over.
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Lest Satan should get an advantage of us. --2 Cor.
ii. 11.
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3. Superiority of state, or that which gives it; benefit;
gain; profit; as, the advantage of a good constitution.
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4. Interest of money; increase; overplus (as the thirteenth
in the baker's dozen). [Obs.]
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And with advantage means to pay thy love. --Shak.
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5. (Tennis) The first point scored after deuce.
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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.
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Syn: Advantage, Advantageous, Benefit, Beneficial.
Usage: 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.
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