sell | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

77 entries found.

early 15c., "defend" (oneself); mid-15c. as "protect with a hedge or fence;" from fence (n.). From 1590s as "fight with swords," from the noun in this sense (1530s); see fencing. From 1610s as "knowingly buy or sell stolen goods." Related: Fenced.

traffic (v.)

1540s, "to buy and sell," from traffic (n.) and preserving the original commercial sense. Related: Trafficked; trafficking; trafficker. The -k- is inserted to preserve the "k" sound of -c- before a suffix beginning in -i-, -y-, or -e- (compare picnic/picnicking, panic/panicky, shellacshellacked).

bazaar (n.)

1580s, from Italian bazarra, ultimately from Persian bazar (Pahlavi vacar) "a market," from Old Iranian *vaha-carana "sale, traffic," from suffixed form of PIE root *wes- (1) "to buy, sell" (see venal) + PIE *kwoleno-, suffixed form of root *kwel- (1) "revolve, move round; sojourn, dwell."

chaffer (n.)

"a bargain," early 13c., cheffare "buying and selling," also (14c.) cheapfare, probably from Old English ceap "bargain, traffic, gain, sale" (see cheap) + faru "faring, going" (see fare (n.)). In later use, "haggling." The verb is recorded from mid-14c. as "to trade, buy and sell," from 1725 as "to haggle."

tipple (v.)

c. 1500 (implied in tippling), "sell alcoholic liquor by retail," of unknown origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source (such as Norwegian dialectal tipla "to drink slowly or in small quantities"). Meaning "drink (alcoholic beverage) too much" is first attested 1550s. Related: Tippled.

interpret (v.)

late 14c., "expound the meaning of, render clear or explicit," from Old French interpreter "explain; translate" (13c.) and directly from Latin interpretari "explain, expound, understand," from interpres "agent, translator," from inter "between" (see inter-) + second element probably from PIE *per- (5) "to traffic in, sell." Related: Interpreted; interpreting.

de-accession (v.)

also deaccession, "remove an entry for an item from the register of a museum, library, etc." (often a euphemism for "to sell"), by 1968, from de- "off, away" + accession, which had been used since 1887 in library publications as a verb meaning "to add to a catalogue." Related: De-accessioned; de-accessioning.

monopoly (n.)

1530s, "exclusive control of a commodity or trade," from Latin monopolium, from Greek monopōlion "right of exclusive sale," from monos "single, alone" (from PIE root *men- (4) "small, isolated") + pōlein "to sell," from PIE root *pel- (4) "to sell."

Alternative form monopole (1540s, from the Old French form of the word) was common in 16c. Meaning "possession of anything to the exclusion of others" is by 1640s; sense of "a company or corporation which enjoys a monopoly" is by 1871. The popular board game, developed in its final version by Charles Darrow (1889-1967) and marketed by Parker Brothers, is from 1935, the year it was a craze. Monopoly money "unreal currency" is attested by 1959, in reference to the paper used in the game.

simonize (v.)

1921, from Simoniz, trademark for a type of car polish invented by George Simons, who along with Elmer Rich of the Great Northern Railway organized Simons Manufacturing Company to sell it in Chicago, U.S.A., in 1910. Rich and his brother, R.J. Rich, acquired sole ownership two years later.

undercut (v.)

late 14c., "to cut down or off," from under + cut (v.). In the commercial sense of "sell at lower prices" (or work at lower wages) it is first attested 1884. Figurative sense of "render unstable, undermine" is recorded from 1955, from earlier literal meaning "cut so as to leave the upper portion larger than the lower" (1874).

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