Trade , obs. imp.
of Tread.
Trade , v. t. To sell or exchange in commerce; to barter.
They traded the persons of men.
Ezek. xxvii. 13.
To dicker and to swop, to trade rifles and watches.
Cooper.
Trade (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Traded; p. pr. & vb. n. Trading.]
1. 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.
A free port, where nations . . . resorted with
their goods and traded.
Arbuthnot. 2. To buy and sell
or exchange property in a
single instance.
3. To have dealings; to be concerned or associated; -- usually followed by with.
How did you dare to
trade and traffic with
Macbeth?
Shak.
Trade (?), n. [Formerly, a path, OE. tred a footmark. See Tread, n. &
v.]
1. A track; a trail; a way;
a path; also, passage; travel; resort.
[Obs.]
A postern with a blind wicket there was,
A common trade to pass through Priam's house.
Surrey. Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade.
Spenser.
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.
Shak.
2. Course; custom; practice; occupation; employment. [Obs.] "The
right trade of religion." Udall.
There those five sisters had continual trade.
Spenser.
Long did I love this lady,
Long was my travel, long my trade to win her.
Massinger. Thy sin's not accidental but a trade.
Shak.
3. Business of any kind; matter of mutual consideration;
affair; dealing.
[Obs.]
Have you any further trade with us?
Shak. 4. Specifically: The act or business of exchanging
commodities by barter, or by buying and
selling for money; commerce; traffic; barter.
&fist; Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing, either in the produce of land, in manufactures, in bills, or in money; but it
is chiefly used to denote the
barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares, and merchandise, either by wholesale or 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
by the wholesale, that is, by the package or in
large quantities, generally to be sold again, or it is by retail, or in small parcels. The carrying trade is the
business of transporting commodities from one country to another, or between places in the same country, by land or water.
5. 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; as, we speak of the trade of a
smith, of a
carpenter, or mason, but not now of the trade of a farmer, or a lawyer, or a physician.
Accursed usury was all his
trade.
Spenser.
The homely,
slighted, shepherd's trade.
Milton.
I will instruct thee in my trade.
Shak.
6. Instruments of any occupation.
[Obs.]
The house and household goods, his trade of war.
Dryden. 7. 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. pl.
The trade winds.
9. Refuse or rubbish from a mine. [Prov. Eng.]
Syn. -- Profession; occupation; office; calling; avocation; employment; commerce; dealing; traffic.
Board of trade. See under Board. --
Trade dollar. See under Dollar. -- Trade price, the price at which goods are sold to
members of the same trade, or by wholesale dealers to
retailers. -- Trade sale, an auction by and for the trade, especially that of the
booksellers. -- Trade wind, a wind in the torrid zone, and often a little beyond at, which blows from the same
quarter throughout the year, except when affected by local causes; -- so called because of its usefulness to navigators, and hence to trade.
&fist; The general direction of the trade winds is from N. E. to S. W. on the north side of
the equator, and from S. E. to N. W. on the south side of
the equator. They are produced by the joint
effect of the rotation of the earth
and the movement of the air from
the polar toward the equatorial regions, to supply the vacancy caused by heating, rarefaction, and consequent ascent of the
air in the latter regions. The trade winds are principally limited to two belts in
the tropical regions, one on each side of the equator, and separated by a belt which is characterized by calms or variable weather.
Hear it pronounced