Trade

Trade, trād, n. buying and selling: commerce: occupation, craft; men engaged in the same occupation: rubbish.—v.i. to buy and sell: to act merely for money.—v.i. to traffic with.—adjs. Trād′ed (Shak.), versed, practised; Trade′ful (Spens.), commercial, busy in traffic.—ns. Trade′-hall, a hall for the meetings of any trade or guild; Trade′-mark, any name or distinctive device warranting goods for sale as the production of any individual or firm; Trade′-price, the price at which goods are sold to members of the same trade, or are sold by wholesale to retail dealers; Trā′der; Trade′-sale, an auction sale of goods by producers, &c., to persons in the trade.—n.pl. Trades′-folk, people employed in trade.—n. Trades′man, a common name for a shopkeeper: a mechanic:—fem. Trades′woman.—n.pl. Trades′peo′ple, people employed in various trades, esp. shopkeeping, &c.—ns. Trades′-un′ion, Trade′-un′ion, an organised association of the workmen of any trade or industry for the protection of their common interests; Trade′-un′ionism; Trade′-un′ionist; Trade′-wind, a wind blowing steadily toward the thermal equator and deflected westwardly by the eastward rotation of the earth.—adj. Trā′ding, carrying on commerce (also n.): (Milt.) frequented by traders, denoting places where the trade-winds blow.—Trade on, to take advantage of.—Board of Trade, a department of government for control of railways, mercantile marine, harbours, and commercial matters generally. [A.S. træd, pa.t. of tredan, to tread. Not Fr. traite, transport of goods—L. tractāre, freq. of trahĕre, to draw.]