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sell

verb
/sɛl/

Etymology

From Middle English sellen, from Old English sellan (“give; give up for money”), from Proto-West Germanic *salljan, from Proto-Germanic *saljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁-. Cognates Cognate with Scots sell (“to sell”), Danish sælge (“to sell”), Faroese, Icelandic selja (“to sell”), Norwegian Bokmål selge (“to sell”), Norwegian Nynorsk selja, selje (“to sell”), Swedish sälja (“to sell”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (saljan, “to pay tribute, make an offer”).

  1. derived from *selh₁-✻
  2. inherited from *saljaną✻
  3. inherited from *salljan✻
  4. inherited from sellan
  5. inherited from sellen

Definitions

  1. To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.

    • She sold her old car very quickly.
    • I'll sell you three books for a hundred dollars.
    • Sorry, I'm not prepared to sell.

  2. To be sold.

    • This old stock will never sell.
    • The corn sold for a good price.

  3. To promote (a product or service) although not being paid in any direct way or at all.

  4. ›+ 13 more definitions

    1. To promote (a particular viewpoint).

      • My boss is very old-fashioned and I'm having a lot of trouble selling the idea of working at home occasionally.

    2. To betray for money or other things.

    3. To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.

      • Then weaues Other crosse-plots New tricks for safety, are sought; They thriue: When, bold, Each tempt's th'other againe, and all are sold.
      • House was jammed again that night, and we sold this crowd the same way.

    4. To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury

      To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.

    5. To throw under the bus

      To throw under the bus; to let down one's own team in an endeavour, especially in a sport or a game.

      • He's selling!
      • He really sold in that match.

    6. An act of selling

      An act of selling; sale.

      • Now the easiest sell in traveldom is made even easier.

    7. The promotion of an idea for acceptance.

      • This is going to be a tough sell.

    8. An easy task.

    9. An imposition, a cheat

      An imposition, a cheat; a hoax; a disappointment; anything occasioning a loss of pride or dignity.

      • "Of course a miracle may happen, and you may be a great painter, but you must confess the chances are a million to one against it. It'll be an awful sell if at the end you have to acknowledge you've made a hash of it."
      • What a sell for Lena!

    10. A seat or stool.

      • The tyrant proud frown’d from his loftie cell, [...].

    11. A saddle.

      • turning to that place, in which whyleare / He left his loftie steed with golden sell, / And goodly gorgeous barbes, him found not theare [...].
      • Then she gave unto him a horse so good, And therewith a new sell; "And never shalt thou the way inquire, Thy horse will find it well."

    12. A rope (usually for tying up cattle, but can also mean any sort of rope).

      • He picked up the sell from the straw-strewn barn-floor, snelly sneaked up behind her and sleekly slung it around her swire while scryingː "dee, dee ye fooking quhoreǃ".

    13. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

backsell, buy low, sell high, buy when it snows sell when it goes, cold sell, cost of goods sold, cross-sell, don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear, hand-sell, hard-sell, I have a bridge to sell you, long sell, missell, mis-sell, no-sell, onsell, outsell, oversell, panic sell, presell, price to sell, proverbs should be sold in pairs, resell, sellability, sellable, sell against the box, sell away, sell bargains, sell-by date, sell by the candle, sell coals to Newcastle, sell coal to Newcastle, sell dearly, sell down, sell down the river, sellee, sell freezers to Eskimos, sell ice to Eskimos, sell in May, …and go away, …and stay away · +50 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at sell. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01sell02goods03passengers04passenger05operate06bring07transport08bear09sells

A definitional loop anchored at sell. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at sell

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA