sell Hear it!

sell Definition

sell (sel)

transitive verb sold, sell′·ing

  1. to give up, deliver, or exchange (property, goods, services, etc.) for money or its equivalent
    1. to have or offer regularly for sale; deal in a store that sells hardware, to sell real estate
    2. to make or try to make sales in or to to sell chain stores
    1. to give up or deliver (a person) to his or her enemies or into slavery, bondage, etc.
    2. to be a traitor to; betray (a country, cause, etc.)
  4. to give up or dispose of (one's honor, one's vote, etc.) for profit or a dishonorable purpose
  5. to bring about, help in, or promote, the sale of television sells many products
  6. ☆ Informal
    1. to establish faith, confidence, or belief in to sell oneself to the public
    2. to persuade (someone) of the value of something; convince: with on sell him on the idea
  7. Slang to cheat or dupe

Etymology: ME sellen < OE sellan, to give, offer, akin to Goth saljan, to offer (sacrifice): caus. formation in sense “to cause to take” < IE base *sel-, to take, grasp > sale, Gr helein, to take

intransitive verb

  1. to exchange property, goods, or services for money, etc.
  2. to work or act as a salesman or salesclerk
  3. to be sold; attract buyers: often used with reference to the rate of sale to sell well, poorly, etc.
  4. to be sold (for or at) belts selling for six dollars
  5. Informal to be accepted, approved, etc. a scheme that won't sell

noun

  1. Slang a trick or hoax
  2. ☆ selling or salesmanship

sell Idioms

sell off

to get rid of by selling, esp. at low prices

sell oneself

  1. to exchange one's services for a price, esp. for a dishonorable purpose, as for prostitution
  2. ☆ Informal to convince another of one's worth

sell out

  1. to get rid of completely by selling
  2. ☆ Informal to betray (one's associates, cause, country, etc.)
  3. ☆ Informal to give up or be unfaithful to one's artistic aspirations or moral principles so as to achieve success, financial gain, etc.

sell short

☆
  1. to sell securities, etc. not yet owned
  2. to value at less than its worth; underestimate

sell up

Brit.

to sell all of (the land or household goods) of (a debtor) so as to satisfy his or her debts

sell Synonyms

sell

v.

  1. To convey for a consideration

    market, vend, auction, dispose of, put up for sale, barter, exchange, trade, bargain, peddle, retail, merchandise, sell at the market, sell on the curb, sell over the counter, sell futures on, contract, wholesale, give title to, give a deed for, put in escrow; see also exchange 2.

    Antonyms buy*, obtain*, get.

  2. To betray

    sell out*, fail, violate; see betray 1, deceive, disappoint.

sell implies the transferral of ownership of something to another for money to sell books, a house, etc.; barter implies an exchange of goods or services without using money to barter food for clothes; trade, in transitive use, also implies the exchange of articles let's trade neckties, and, intransitively, implies the carrying on of a business in which one buys and sells a specified commodity to trade in wheat; auction implies the public sale of items one by one, each going to the highest of the competing bidders to auction off unclaimed property; vend applies especially to the selling of small articles, as by peddling, coin-operated machine, etc. to vend souvenirs at the parade, vending machines

sell Usage Examples

Object

  • ticket: Sell the raffle tickets to passers by at your ' send-off ' party to squeeze some last minute cash out of the public.
  • alcohol: At present any landlord has of course to have a license to sell alcohol.
  • product: I was thinking of doing test run or would I be more likely to sell finished product!
  • copy: His album The Wedding Samba sold three million copies in 1949 alone.
  • property: Only the estate agent who sells the property will be entitled to a commission.
  • share: The proceeds from selling the shares go to a wide range of UK charities.

Preposition: on

  • ebay: Similar principle to titles when selling on eBay, your title is critical to your search relevance.

Preposition: at

  • auction: The car was sold at auction for £ 18 000.

Preposition: as

  • slave: Taken in chains to America, he was sold as a slave.

Preposition: over

  • copy: The latest edition of the paper has sold over 8,500 copies.

Preposition: into

  • slavery: There were hundreds of thousands of Scots sold into slavery during Colonial America.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • off: The vacant site was then sold off for the construction of prestige housing.
  • out: People who talk about being totally sold out to Jesus don't realize the depths of their sin or the holiness of God.
  • on: He buys a load of scrap iron to sell on, but gets conned.

Followed by a transitive particle

  • off: Cawlett sold off the Smith business in 1994 to a Plymouth businessman called Rimmer.

Subject

  • auction: The freehold estate of Monk's Risbridge and Barnardiston was sold by auction.

Preposition: in

  • supermarket: Almost all food sold in supermarkets is transported to distribution depots around the country before being distributed back to supermarkets.

Preposition: for

  • scrap: In 1961 she was sold for scrap after a working life of 86 years.

Preposition: like

  • cake: LETSlink Development Kits Our Development Kits have been selling like hot cakes.

Preposition: by

  • auction: On the completion of their contract my father received instructions to sell by public auction the whole of their plant.
sell Quotes

   I sought out quaint words, and trim invention; My thoughts began to burnish, sprout, and swell, Curling with metaphors a plain intention, Decking the sense, as if it were to sell.

—Herbert, George

   Well,Jim, I haven't read any of your books but I'll have to someday because they must be good considering how well they sell.

—Joyce, Nora   d.1951

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

—Bible (NewTestament)

I play the sort of character who would sell his grandmother for career advancement, something I've come across a lot with actors.

—Grant, Hugh