"a state of limited competition in which a market is shared by a few producers or sellers," 1887, from Medieval Latin oligopolium, from Greek oligos "little, small," in plural, "the few" (a word of uncertain origin) + pōlein "to sell" (from PIE root *pel- (4) "to sell."). Related: Oligopolist.
"action of converting (something) into a commercial product or activity," 1968, from commodity + -fication "a making or causing." Originally in Marxist political theory, "the assignment of a market value," often to some quality or thing that the user of the word feels would be better off without it.
early 14c., draperie, "cloth, textiles," from Old French draperie (12c.) "weaving, cloth-making, clothes shop," from drap "cloth, piece of cloth" (see drape (v.)). From late 14c. as "place where cloth is made; cloth market." Meaning "stuff with which something is draped" is from 1680s.
"an exchange, a mart," by 1869, a reference to the famous Ponte de Rialto of Venice and the market or exchange that stood on the east end of it and eventually expanded to cover the bridge itself. The name is contracted from Rivoalto and named for the canal (Latin rivus altus "deep stream") which it crosses.
"public entertainment show of horse-riding skill," 1914, from the earlier meaning "cattle round-up" (1834), from Spanish rodeo, "pen for cattle at a fair or market," literally "a going round," from rodear "go round, surround," related to rodare "revolve, roll," from Latin rotare "go around" (see rotary).
large sea-fish of the mackerel order, 1520s, probably from French thon (14c.), from Old Provençal ton and directly from Latin thunnus "a tuna, tunny," from Greek thynnos "a tuna, tunny," possibly with a literal sense of "darter," from thynein "dart along."
In ancient Greece, the food-fish par excellence, with its own vocabulary of culinary and market terms for the cuts and preparations of it.
late 14c., "to furnish with corners; bring to a point by convergence," from corner (n.). Meaning "to turn a corner," as in a race, is from 1860s. Meaning "drive or force (someone) into a corner," also figuratively, "force into a position where defeat or surrender is inevitable," is American English from 1824; commercial sense "monopolize the market supply of a stock or commodity" is from 1836. Related: Cornered; cornering.
also pre-process, "subject to preliminary processing," 1956, from pre- "before" + process (v.). Related: Preprocessed; preprocessing.
Preprocessed foods are not only here but are gaining such a tremendous acceptance that soon there will be little else on the market. This eliminates the need for mixing, peeling, blending and other devices used in the preparation of raw foods. [Popular Mechanics, October 1956]
