debit(redirected from debits)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia.
A debit is the opposite of a credit. A debit may be an account entry representing money you owe a lender or money that has been taken from your account.
For example, your bank debits your checking account for the amount of a check you've written, and your broker debits your investment account for the cost of a security you've purchased.
Similarly, a debit card authorizes the bank to take money out of your bank account electronically, either as cash or as an on-the-spot payment to a merchant. That's different from a credit card, which authorizes you to borrow the money from the card issuer.
- n. a means of charging (in DOUBLE-ENTRY ACCOUNTS) for services rendered by a firm. This is done by making an accounting entry which records the value of GOODS or SERVICES supplied by the company in the company's account of the customer for these goods and services. A debit entry in a company's DOUBLE-ENTRY ACCOUNTS represents either an increase in the company's assets or a decrease in its LIABILITIES.
- v. to enter the value of goods or services supplied to a customer in the supplying company's account of that customer. See CREDIT, definition 2.
(1) On a closing statement for a real estate sale, an item that is charged to a party. (2) In accounting,an entry that appears on the left side of the page.It is the opposite of a credit.In accounting,a credit does not necessarily indicate more money and a debit does not necessarily indicate less money or an expense.