Product, n.
Etymology: [L. productus, p. pr. of producere. See Produce.]
1. Anything that is produced, whether as the result of generation, growth, labor, or thought, or by the operation of involuntary causes; as, the products of the season, or of the farm; the products of manufactures; the products of the brain. There are the product Of those ill-mated marriages. Milton. These institutions are the products of enthusiasm. Burke.
2. (Math.)
The number or sum obtained by adding one number or quantity to itself as many times as there are units in another number; the number resulting from the multiplication of two or more numbers; as, the product of the multiplication of 7 by 5 is 35. In general, the result of any kind of multiplication. See the Note under Multiplication.
Syn. -- Produce; production; fruit; result; effect; consequence; outcome; work; performance.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Product, v. t.
1. To produce; to bring forward. "Producted to . . . examination." [Obs.] Foxe.
2. To lengthen out; to extend. [Obs.] He that doth much . . . products his mortality. Hackett.
3. To produce; to make. [Obs.] Holinshed.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for product; he lists it under harvest, work.
Where he writes about it:
Produce is a collective word for all that is produced in farming or gardening, and is, in modern usage, almost wholly restricted to this sense; we speak of produce collectively, but of a product or various products; vegetables, fruits, eggs, butter, etc., may be termed farm-produce, or the products of the farm. — from harvest
Product is a word of wider application than produce; we speak of the products of manufacturing, the products of thought, or the product obtained by multiplying one number by another. — from harvest