"Grow" your business?

[Ela]

My daughter has just ranted to me about the growing ( ) use of the word "grow" in sentences such as: "Create a web site that will grow our business and establish customer loyalty." She says "grow" is not a transitive verb. She cites the OED to support her claim:

II. Transitive senses.
    14. causative. To cause to grow.    a. To produce (plants, wool, etc.) by cultivation.
    b. Of land, etc.: To produce; to bring forth.
    c. Of persons and animals: To let grow on the body.
    d. To cause to develop into.
    e. To cause to increase, to enlarge. Obs.1

Grow is being used here in the sense of growing corn or growing a beard, she says. I know that I have seen this word used in to mean "grow a business" quite a bit in recent years. Is it wrong? Is the OED highlighting British usage, with American usage being different?

Am I asking too many grammar and usage questions lately?

[goofy]

She cites the OED entry for the transitive verb to prove that it isn't a transitive verb?

It seems to me like a simple metaphorical extension.

[Jonathon]

I'm a little confused. She says it's not a transitive verb, but then she cites some definitions of "grow" as a transitive verb?

It's been a transitive verb for at least 200 years now, as the citations from those definitions show. She (and many others) object to this sense of "grow" not because it's transitive, but because it's a metaphorical extension of the meaning. It's pretty new, as far as I can tell, and I don't think it's British. It strikes me as American businessese, but I could be wrong.

The question "Is it wrong?" is a little more complicated. If new meanings or new words are automatically wrong, then yes. But that's a pretty extreme stance, because it means that we can never have new words or new meanings of existing words. A lot of people do dislike this use of "grow," so you might be able to consider it wrong in a democratic sense—the people have spoken, and they don't like this meaning. Of course, usage issues are never that simple and straightforward, and I'd guess that this meaning is not going to go away but is rather going to become more prevalent.

And no, you're not asking too many questions. I like answering questions like this.

 

Edit: Ha! It seems that goofy and I are on the same wavelength, even down to the choice of the words "metaphorical extension."

[Ela]

Her objection was that "grow" is not a synonym for "increase."

I agree that the "grow your business" usage is a metaphorical extension of the meaning. That was my thought, too.

Sorry for the confusion about the transitive verb meanings. She said that "grow your business" was not a correct usage of "grow" as a transitive verb, not that grow is not a transitive verb. I misspoke (or mistyped! ). She agrees that "grow" is a transitive verb in some senses, but not in this sense. And she gave me a list of sentence samples that use "grow" in the literal sense (growing a crop).

[pooka]

I think it is a usage that makes people uncomfortable because it is so typical of business, and particularly marketing, discussions.

[Porter]

"Grow the economy" was somebody's pet peeve on A Way With Words.

[Neutros the Radioactive Dragon]

[Chance]That is correct.  In a garden, growth has its season.  There is spring and summer, but there is also fall and winter.  And then spring and summer again...[/Chance]