Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) The quality or state of deserving well or ill; desert.

2. (n.) Esp. in a good sense: The quality or state of deserving well; worth; excellence.

3. (n.) Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or approbation; as, his teacher gave him ten merits.

4. (n.) To earn by service or performance; to have a right to claim as reward; to deserve; sometimes, to deserve in a bad sense; as, to merit punishment.

5. (n.) To reward.

6. (v. i.) To acquire desert; to gain value; to receive benefit; to profit.