merchandising
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɜːt͡ʃ(ə)ndaɪzɪŋ/
ipa: /ˈmɝt͡ʃənˌdaɪzɪŋ/
Forms: form: merchandisings
form: merchandizing
Etymology: From Late Middle English marchaundising (“commerce, trading; commodities, goods; (plural) dealings with other persons”) [and other forms], from marchaundisen (“to engage in commerce, traffic”) (see further at merchandise (verb)) + -ing (suffix forming gerunds). The English word is analysable as merchandise + -ing (suffix forming nouns from verbs).
Senses: examples: text: May not the miſerable ruine of Conſtantinople, their impregnable vvalles, riches, and pleaſures laſt taken by the Turke (vvhich are but a bit, in compariſon of their novv mightines) remember vs, of the effects of priuate couetouſneſs? […] His [the Byzantine emperor's] pouertie vvhen the Turke beſeiged, the citizens (vvhoſe marchandizing thoughts vvere onely to get vvealth, little conceiuing the deſperate reſolution of a valiant expert enemy) left the Emp[eror] ſo long to his concluſions, hauing ſpent all he had to pay his young, ravv, diſcontented Souldiers; that ſodainly he, they, and their citie vvere all a prey to the deuouring Turke.
ref: 1616, Iohn Smith [i.e., John Smith], A Description of New England: […], London: […] Humfrey Lownes, for Robert Clerke; […], →OCLC, page 34:
text: The Diſcommodities of Vſury are: Firſt, that it makes fevver Merchants. For vvere it not, for this Lazie Trade of Vſury, Money vvould not lie ſtill, but vvould, in great Part, be Imployed vpon Merchandizing; VVhich is the Vena Porta of VVealth in a State.
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Usurie. XLI.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 240:
text: Profanation of the lord's day, or ſabbath-breaking, is a ninth offence againſt God and religion, puniſhed by the municipal lavvs of England. […] And therefore the lavvs of king Athelſtan forbad all merchandizing on the lord's day, under very ſevere penalties.
ref: 1769, William Blackstone, “Of Offences against God and Religion”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 63:
text: [A] Ocadh, in the South of Arabia, there were yearly fairs, and there, when the merchandising was done, Poets sang for prizes:—the wild people gathered to hear that.
ref: 1840 May 8, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture II. The Hero as Prophet. Mahomet: Islam.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, pages 44–45:
text: [T]he old Triton, at his fountain-sport, / Bernini's creature plated to the paps, / Puffs up steel sleet which breaks to diamond dust, / A spray of sparkles snorted from his conch, / High over the caritellas, out o' the way / O' the motley merchandizing multitude.
ref: 1868, Robert Browning, “I. The Ring and the Book.”, in The Ring and the Book. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., →OCLC, page 47, lines 898–903:
glosses: gerund of merchandise
Trade in merchandise.
examples: text: Now, these strikers: Honest, they're not such bad people. Just foolish. They don't understand the complications of merchandizing and profit, the way we businessmen do, but sometimes I think they're about like the rest of us, and no more hogs for wages than we are for profits.
ref: 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXVII, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, section V, page 318:
text: With the ubiquitous branding and expert merchandizing of museums today, it is easy to forget that graphic design was once a low priority for them.
ref: 2009 February 27, Steven Heller, “Noel Martin, inventive catalog designer, dies at 86”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Feb 2022:
glosses: gerund of merchandise
The promotion of goods for sale in a store, especially through advertising, attractive displays, discounts, etc.; also (generally), the promotion of any goods or services for sale.
synonyms: marketing
glosses: gerund of merchandise
The promotion of a film, music group, theatre production, etc., through the sale of goods bearing motifs associated with the subject being promoted; also, such goods themselves collectively; merchandise.
Derived terms: Merch.
visual merchandising
Related terms: word: market
word: marketer
word: marketing
word: mercantile
word: mercantilism
word: mercantilist
word: merchandisable
word: merchandise
word: merchandize
word: merchandiser
word: merchandizer
word: merchandry
word: merchant
word: remerchandise