1. The flow of cash or cash-equivalents received from work (wage or salary), capital (interest or profit), or land (rent). 2. Accounting: (1) An excess of revenue over expenses for an accounting period. Also called earnings or gross profit. (2) An amount by which total assets increase in an accounting period. 3. Economics: Consumption that, at the end of a period, will leave an individual with the same amount of goods (and the expectations of future goods) as at the beginning of that period. Therefore, income means the maximum amount an individual can spend during a period without being any worse off. Income (and not the GDP) is the engine that drives an economy because only it can create demand. 4. Law: Money or other forms of payment (received periodically or regularly) from commerce, employment, endowment, investment, royalties, etc.