trade

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The business of buying and selling commodities; commerce. See Synonyms at business.
2. n. The people working in or associated with a business or industry: a textile-exporting publication for the trade.
3. n. The customers of a specified business or industry; clientele.
4. n. The act or an instance of buying or selling; transaction.
5. n. An exchange of one thing for another.
6. n. An occupation, especially one requiring skilled labor; craft: the building trades, including carpentry, masonry, plumbing, and electrical installation.
7. n. The trade winds. Often used in the plural with the.
8. v. To engage in buying and selling for profit.
9. v. To make an exchange of one thing for another.
10. v. To be offered for sale: Stocks traded at lower prices this morning.
11. v. To shop or buy regularly: trades at the local supermarket.
12. v. To give in exchange for something else: trade farm products for manufactured goods; will trade my ticket for yours.
13. v. To buy and sell (stock, for example).
14. v. To pass back and forth: We traded jokes.
15. adj. Of or relating to trade or commerce.
16. adj. Relating to, used by, or serving a particular trade: a trade magazine.
17. adj. Of or relating to books that are primarily published to be sold commercially, as in bookstores.
18. trade down To trade something in for something else of lower value or price: bought a new, smaller car, trading the old one down for economy.
19. trade in To surrender or sell (an old or used item), using the proceeds as partial payment on a new purchase.
20. trade on To put to calculated and often unscrupulous advantage; exploit: children of celebrities who trade on their family names.
21. trade up To trade something in for something else of greater value or price: The value of our house soared, enabling us to trade up to a larger place.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Commodities designed for use in trading.
2. n. A footstep; track; trace; trail.
3. n. Path; way; course.
4. n. The bearing part of the felly of a wheel; the tread of a wheel.
5. n. Course of action or effort.
6. n. Way of life; customary mode or course of action; habit or manner of life; habit; custom; practice.
7. n. Business pursued; occupation.
8. n. Specifically, the craft or business which a person has learned and which he carries on as a means of livelihood or for profit; occupation; particularly, mechanical or mercantile employment; a handicraft, as distinguished from one of the liberal arts or of the learned professions, and from agriculture. Thus, we speak of the trade of a smith, of a carpenter, or of a mason; but not of the trade of a farmer or of a lawyer or physician.
9. n. The exchange of commodities for other commodities or for money; the business of buying and selling; dealing by way of sale or exchange; commerce; traffic. Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing, either in the produce of land, in manufactures, or in bills or money. It is, however, chiefly used to denote the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares, and merchandise, either by wholesale or by retail. Trade is either foreign or domestic. Foreign trade consists in the exportation and importation of goods, or the exchange of the commodities of different countries. Domestic or home trade is the exchange or buying and selling of goods within a country. Trade is also wholesale (that is, by the package or in large quantities) or it is by retail, or in small parcels. The carrying-trade is that of transporting commodities from one country to another by water.
10. n. The persons engaged in the same occupation or line of business: as, the book- trade.
11. n. A purchase or sale; a bargain; specifically, in United States politics, a deal.
12. n. The implements, collectively, of any occupation.
13. n. Stuff: often used contemptuously in the sense of ‘rubbish.’
14. n. In Great Britain, a committee of the Privy Council which has, to a large extent, the supervision of British commerce and industry. At its head are the President of the Board of Trade, who is usually a member of the Cabinet, the parliamentary secretary (formerly vice-president), the permanent secretary, and six assistant secretaries at the head of six departments—the commercial, harbor, finance, railway, marine, and fisheries. Attached to the Board of Trade are also the bankruptcy and emigration departments, the Patent Office, etc. A committee for trade and the plantations existed for a short time in the reign of Charles II. The council of trade was again constituted in the reign of William III., but discontinued in 1782. In 1786 the Board of Trade was organized, and its functions were subsequently greatly extended.
15. n. Synonyms and
16. n. Pursuit, Vocation, etc. See occupation.
17. Pertaining to or characteristic of trade, or of a particular trade: as, a trade practice; a trade ball or dinner; trade organizations.
18. To take or keep one's course; pass; move; proceed.
19. To engage in trade; engage in the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods, wares, and merchandise, or anything else; barter; buy and sell; traffic; carry on commerce as a business: with in before the thing bought and sold.
20. To buy and sell or to exchange property in a specific instance: as, A traded with B for a horse or a number of sheep.
21. To engage in affairs generally; have dealings or transactions.
22. To carry merchandise; voyage or ply as a merchant or merchantman.
23. To pass; spend.
24. To frequent for purposes of trade.
25. To sell or exchange in commerce; barter; buy and sell.
26. n. A trade-wind: used commonly in the plural.
27. n. An obsolete preterit of tread.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable Buying and selling of goods and services on a market.
2. n. countable A particular instance of buying or selling.
3. n. countable An instance of bartering items in exchange for one another.
4. n. countable Those who perform a particular kind of skilled work.
5. n. countable Those engaged in an industry or group of related industries.
6. n. countable The skilled practice of a practical occupation.
7. n. uncountable, UK The business given to a commercial establishment by its customers.
8. n. Steady winds blowing from east to west above and below the equator.
9. n. A publication intended for participants in an industry or related group of industries.
10. n. uncountable, LGBT, slang A brief sexual encounter.
11. v. To engage in trade
12. v. To be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions.
13. v. To give (something) in exchange for.
14. v. To do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A track; a trail; a way; a path; also, passage; travel; resort.
2. n. obsolete Course; custom; practice; occupation; employment.
3. n. obsolete Business of any kind; matter of mutual consideration; affair; dealing.
4. n. Specifically: The act or business of exchanging commodities by barter, or by buying and selling for money; commerce; traffic; barter.
5. n. The business which a person has learned, and which he engages in, for procuring subsistence, or for profit; occupation; especially, mechanical employment as distinguished from the liberal arts, the learned professions, and agriculture.
6. n. obsolete Instruments of any occupation.
7. n. A company of men engaged in the same occupation; thus, booksellers and publishers speak of the customs of the trade, and are collectively designated as the trade.
8. n. The trade winds.
9. n. Prov. Eng. Refuse or rubbish from a mine.
10. v. To barter, or to buy and sell; to be engaged in the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods, wares, merchandise, or anything else; to traffic; to bargain; to carry on commerce as a business.
11. v. To buy and sell or exchange property in a single instance.
12. v. To have dealings; to be concerned or associated; -- usually followed by with.
13. v. To sell or exchange in commerce; to barter.
14. imp. of tread.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. engage in the trade of
2. v. do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood
3. v. be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions
4. v. turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase
5. n. a particular instance of buying or selling
6. n. the business given to a commercial establishment by its customers
7. n. the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services
8. n. steady winds blowing from east to west above and below the equator
9. v. exchange or give (something) in exchange for
10. n. people who perform a particular kind of skilled work
11. n. an equal exchange
12. n. the skilled practice of a practical occupation