Wiktionary
prep.phr. 1 (context finance English) Above par value. 2 At a high, or higher than expected, price. 3 scarce, in short supply.
WordNet
adv. of high value (usually because of scarcity) or above par value; "they were forced to buy it back at a premium"
Usage examples of "at a premium".
Or, if time was at a premium, he could come early in the day, sit at the serving counter in the back, and squeeze the sponge that was Martin Groesbeck.
Space is at a premium and I think they are amazed by their own generosity in giving us this much.
In this part of the city, land was at a premium, so as little space as possible within a home was “.
The city got hot as hell at this time of year, and high-up rooms on the south were at a premium.
We become accustomed to the limitations of the city-bubbles in the atmospheres of the major planets, where space is always at a premium though distances between cities are vast.
With manpower at a premium, France's military strategists turned away from the idea of aggressive response and counterattack.
After all, Earth proper's soil had to supply the minerals and basic food supply for all the trillion of inhabitants (in fifty years, it would be two trillion) and space was at a premium.
At length there came a time when acorns were at a premium, and the woodland did not seem either so dark or so cozy.