sell
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /sɛl/
homophone: cel
homophone: cell
rhymes: -ɛl
Forms: form: sells
form: selling
form: sold
form: sold
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”).
Senses: examples: text: She sold her old car very quickly.
text: I'll sell you three books for a hundred dollars.
text: Sorry, I'm not prepared to sell.
text: If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 19:21:
text: No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.
ref: 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
synonyms: peddle
vend
glosses: To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.
examples: text: This old stock will never sell.
text: The corn sold for a good price.
glosses: To be sold.
examples: text: Howard: You're gonna feel terrible when I'm in a wheelchair. Which, by the way, would fit easily in the back of this award-winning minivan.
Bernadette: Fine, we'll go to the E.R. Just stop selling me on the van.
Howard: You're right. It sells itself.
ref: 2016, “The Fetal Kick Catalyst”, in The Big Bang Theory:
glosses: To promote (a product or service) although not being paid in any direct way or at all.
examples: text: My boss is very old-fashioned and I'm having a lot of trouble selling the idea of working at home occasionally.
glosses: To promote (a particular viewpoint).
glosses: To betray for money or other things.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1605 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Ben: Ionson His Volpone or The Foxe, [London]: […] [George Eld] for Thomas Thorppe, published 1607, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet Archive page):
text: House was jammed again that night, and we sold this crowd the same way.
ref: 1884, Mark Twain, chapter XXIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
text: Raul Meireles was the victim of the home side's hustling on this occasion giving the ball away to the impressive David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger with the best dummy of the night before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina.
ref: 2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Blackpool 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC:
glosses: To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.
topics: government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
professional-wrestling
sports
war
wrestling
glosses: To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
examples: text: He's selling!
text: He really sold in that match.
glosses: To throw under the bus; to let down one's own team in an endeavour, especially in a sport or a game.
Synonyms: word: cheap
word: flog
word: hawk
word: monger
word: peddle
word: retail
word: sell
word: vend
Hypernyms: word: give
word: trade
Hyponyms: word: auction
Derived terms: buy low, sell high
buy when it snows(,/ and) 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
mis-sell
no-sell
panic sell
price to sell
proverbs should be sold in pairs
resell
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
sell freezers to Eskimos
sell ice to Eskimos
sell in May
…and go away
…and stay away
…then go away
sell like hot cakes
sell like hotcakes
sell off
sell-off
sell on
sell one's ass
sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage
sell one's body
sell oneself
sell oneself short
sell one's life dearly
sell one's own grandmother
sell one's soul
sell one's soul to the Devil
sell one's soul to the devil
sell order
sell out from under
sell out
sell-out
sell past the close
sell refrigerators to eskimos
sell salt to a slug
sell short
sell side
sell snow to Eskimos
sell someone a bill of goods
sell someone a pup
sell-sword
sell the dummy
sell the family silver
sell the pass
sell-through
sell up
sell wolf tickets
…woof tickets
short sell
short-sell
sold again and got the money
upsell
what wins on Sunday sells on Monday