/tɹeɪd/
OriginFrom Middle English trade (“path, course of conduct”), introduced into English by Hanseatic merchants, from Middle Low German trade (“track, course”), from Old Saxon trada (“spoor, track”), from Proto-West Germanic *tradu, from Proto-Germanic *tradō (“track, way”), and cognate with Old English tredan (“to tread”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- (“to tread, walk, step, run”).
Cognate with Dutch trade, tra (“path, trail, course, trade”), German Low German Traad (“track, wagon trail”), Luxembourgish Tratt (“step, pace”), Icelandic tröð (“a lane between fences, enclosure, pen”).
- uncountableThe buying and selling of goods and services on a market.
- countableA particular instance of buying or selling.
“I did no trades with them once the rumors started.”
- countableAn instance of bartering items in exchange for one another.
“EXCHANGE — A trade or swap of no material profit to either side.”
“When Golden State matched the Knicks' offer sheet, the Warriors and Knicks worked out a trade that sent King to New York for Richardson.”
- countableThose who perform a particular kind of skilled work.
“The skilled trades were the first to organize modern labor unions.”
“But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other cra”
- countableThose engaged in an industry or group of related industries.
“It is not a retail showroom. It is only for the trade.”
- countableThe skilled practice of a practical occupation.
“He learned his trade as an apprentice.”
“In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade”
- countable, uncountableAn occupation in the secondary sector, as opposed to an agricultural, professional or military one.
“After failing his entrance exams, he decided to go into a trade.”
“Most veterans went into trade when the war ended.”
“Subsequently some Scottish troops settled, took up trade as weavers, tailors, or mariners, and married Dutch women.”
- UK, uncountableThe business given to a commercial establishment by its customers.
“Even before noon there was considerable trade.”
- countable, in-plural, uncountableSteady winds blowing from east to west above and below the equator.
“They rode the trades going west.”
“Calms and variable winds, are also experienced during every month of the year, in the space between the trades;[…] the vicinity of the north-east trade seems most liable to them.”
- countable, uncountableA publication intended for participants in an industry or related group of industries.
“Rumors about layoffs are all over the trades.”
- slang, uncountableA masculine man available for casual sex with men, often for pay. (Compare rough trade.)
“Josh picked up some trade last night.”
“In a homosexual of this kind—corresponding to the test of eccentric behavior in the drawing-room—one usually finds a preference for "trade," i.e., sexually normal males, because, if another homosexual”
- obsolete, uncountableInstruments of any occupation.
“His House and household Gods! his trade of War, / His Bow and Quiver; and his trusty Cur.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, countable, uncountableShort for trade paperback
- countable, uncountableRefuse or rubbish from a mine.
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA track or trail; a way; a path; passage.
“A postern with a blind wicket there was, / A common trade to pass through Priam's house”
“As Shepheardes curre, that in darke eveninges shade / Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade”
“Or, I'll be buried in the king's highway, / Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet / May hourly trample on their sovereign's head.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA course; a custom; a practice; an occupation.
“The Jewes, emong whom alone and no moe, God hitherto semed for to reigne, by reason of their knowledge of the law, and of the autoritee of being in the right trade of religion.”
“There those five sisters had continual trade / And used to bathe themselves in that deceitful shade.”
“Long did I love this lady, / Long was my travel, long my trade to win her.”
- ambitransitiveTo engage in trade.
“This company trades (in) precious metal.”
“He withdrew money to his bank account after several years of trading stocks on E-Trade.”
“[…]a free port, where Nations warring with one another resorted with their Goods, and traded as in a neutral Country.”
- copulative, intransitiveTo be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions.
“Apple is trading at $200.”
“ExxonMobil trades on the NYSE.”
“The stock is trading rich relative to its sector.”
- transitiveTo give (something) in exchange (for).
“Will you trade your precious watch for my earring?”
- transitiveTo mutually exchange (something) (with).
“The rival schoolboys traded insults and punches.”
“The [Halo effect] strikes our combined fleets. All ships piloted by biologicals are now [adrift]. I can trade Mendicant ship for ship now and still prevail.”
“Kalinin Bay is also in trouble, trading fire with Japanese destroyers and taking hits from both them and cruisers at the same time. Unlike the Gambier Bay, however, it does not appear that these ships”
- transitive, with-onTo use or exploit a particular aspect, such as a name, reputation, or image, to gain advantage or benefit.
“Some musicians try to trade on their past success by playing the same hits over and over again.”
- intransitive, transitiveTo give someone a plant and receive a different one in return.
- ambitransitiveTo do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood.
- intransitiveTo have dealings; to be concerned or associated (with).
“Saucy and over bold, how did you dare / To trade and traffic with Macbeth”
- transitiveTo recommend and get recommendations.
- not-comparableOf a product, produced for sale in the ordinary bulk retail trade and hence of only the most basic quality.
“"It is monstrous - grotesque." "But what made him draw such an animal?" "Trade gin, I should think."”
Formstrades(plural) · trades(present, singular, third-person) · trading(participle, present) · traded(participle, past) · traded(past)