emporium
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin emporium (“trading station; business district in a city; market town”), from Ancient Greek ἐμπόριον (empórion, “factory, trading station; market”), from ἔμπορος (émporos, “merchant, trader; traveller”) + -ιον (-ion, suffix forming nouns). ἔμπορος is derived from ἐμ- (em-) (variant of ἐν- (en-, prefix meaning ‘in; within’)) + πόρος (póros, “journey; passageway”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; to carry forth”)), modelled after ἐν πόρῳ (en pórōi, “at sea; en route”).
Sense 4 (“the brain”) alludes to the organ as the place where many nerves or nerve impulses meet.
Not related to English empire.
Inflected forms:
form: emporiums
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: emporia
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A city or region which is a major trading centre; also, a place within a city for commerce and trading; a marketplace.
pos: noun
tags: also
figuratively
examples: Venice a poore fiſhertowne, Paris, London, ſmall Cottages, in Cæſars time, now moſt noble Emporiums.
And, while this fam'd Emporium we prepare, / The Britiſh Ocean ſhall ſuch triumphs boaſt, / That thoſe who now diſdain our Trade to ſhare, / Shall rob like Pyrats on our wealthy Coaſt.
The ſtate itself [New York] is penetrated by a large navigable river for more than fifty leagues. The great emporium of its commerce, the great reſervoir of its wealth, lies every moment at the mercy of events, and may almoſt be regarded as a hoſtage for ignominious compliances with the dictates of a foreign enemy, or even with the rapacious demands of pirates and barbarians.
Excester, or EXETER, is a famous and ancient City, the metropolis and emporium of the Weſt of England.
[W]ould there not be a ſerious danger, that while theſe innovations were proceeding, rival European powers might ſeize the occaſion, renew their commercial efforts, and divert into a new channel thoſe ſtreams of commerce which rendered London the emporium of the Eaſtern trade?
Merchants did not carry their goods to the ports where they were to be finally disposed of, and used, but to certain emporia, called staple towns, where they met with customers from the countries where their goods were wanted, and with the commodities they wished to purchase for importation.
Little Britain was, in the middle of the last century, a plentiful emporium of learned authors; and men went thither as to a market. [...] But now this emporium is vanished, and the trade contracted in the hands of two or three persons, who, to make good their monopoly, ransack not only their neighbours of the trade, that are scattered about town, but all over England; [...]
His Lordship, in the intoxication of his triumph at the supposed annihilation of the Tory party, described the defeated party as mere sycophants, and Edinburgh itself, prior to the commencement of the Whig Millen[n]ium, as one vast emporium of corruption.
Ning-po, which is situated a short distance westward of Chusan, is the principal emporium of Che-keang province.
The ancient metropolis of a once mighty race, the only permanent settlement in East Africa, the reported seat of Moslem learning, a walled city of stone houses, possessing its independent chief, its peculiar population, its unknown language, and its own coinage, the emporium of the coffee trade, the head-quarters of slavery, the birth-place of the Kat plant, and the great manufactory of cotton-cloths, amply, it [Harar] appeared, deserved the trouble of exploration.
That's all I claim for Boston,—that it is the thinking centre of the continent, and therefore of the planet. / ―And the grand emporium of modesty,—said the divinity student, a little mischievously.
Although Hong Kong was not yet a great mercantile mart, it was the major opium emporium east of the Cape of Good Hope.
Only where churchmen congregated or rulers established their emporia—licensed depots for the long-distance trade in luxuries—did any vestiges of urban life survive.
Ever since the excavations at Hamwic (Saxon Southampton) – the first Anglo-Saxon emporium to be investigated archaeologically – there has been speculation regarding the manner in which such settlements were provisioned, and what economic impact their presence had on agrarian production in the countryside. The following study investigates these questions from two perspectives: first, it considers faunal and botanical evidence from within the emporia themselves as indicators of agrarian production in their hinterlands.
gloss: A shop that offers a wide variety of goods for sale; a department store; (with a descriptive word) a shop specializing in particular goods.
pos: noun
tags: also
figuratively
examples: With a name like “The Wine and Spirits Emporium”, no wonder the prices are so high.
Then, as if he wiſhed to convert himſelf into a vaſt emporium of every error, he applied to the doctrines of the modern Sophiſters, and thus plied his unfortunate brain on the one ſide with all the delirious conceits of Cabaliſtic Maſonry, and on the other with the impious doctrines of the ſelf-created Philoſophers.
J. Charles begs to state, that in consequence of his making his purchases with Cash, and always keeping an extensive Stock, he is enabled to defy competition.—Observe, the Emporium of Fashion is at 171, Fleet-street.
The Olympic Toy Emporium occupied a conspicuous frontage in an important West End street. It was happily named Toy Emporium, because one would never have dreamed of according it the familiar and yet pulse-quickening name of toyshop.
The Beijing Wangfujing Department Store is a large commercial enterprise well-known in China, and is also famous as one of the world's largest retail stores [...] About 1.7 billion customers, both Chinese and foreign, have been received by the Emporium since its founding, which is about 1.4 times the population of China [...].
Many of the "pick and shovel men," who built nearby Duke's Park, found homes in neighboring Raritan village, spending their weekly wages at such well-known emporiums as Amerman and Reager's General Store (a landmark from 1883 to 1953), Granetz's Department Store (1900 to 1988), and Glaser's (1893 to 1997).
In all of India, China, Africa, and much of the southern American continent, those who had the leisure and wallet for fashion […] would have killed for the street merchandise of Manhattan, as also for […] the reject china and designer-label bargains to be found in downtown discount emporia.
gloss: A business set up to enable foreign traders to engage in commerce in a country; a factory (now the more common term).
pos: noun
tags: historical
examples: The advantages to be enjoyed, and laws conformed to by the men of war of either ſtate, the trade to be carried on in America, the catching of herrings or other fiſh, the ſettling of emporiums, &c. ſhall be adjuſted by a ſpecial treaty.
On the ſouthern branch is a town called Pipely, where there was formerly an Engliſh factory; but this was removed to Huguley, one hundred and ſixty miles farther up the river; a place which, together with the company's ſettlement at Calcutta, were the emporiums of their commerce for the whole kingdom of Bengal.
gloss: The brain.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
obsolete
examples: Catalepſy is occaſioned by a Relaxation of the Fibers of the Emporium, which cannot receive the outward Impreſſions, whereby the Soul has its Senſations, and yet give a free Paſſage to the Animal Spirits into all the Parts, whither they may be conveyed independently upon the Will. The Relaxation of the Fibers of the Emporium is occaſioned by a thin Seroſity, which remains in the very Texture of the Fibers, to relax them without leſſening their Cavity, as it happens in the periodical Oedema’s, that are daily obſerved upon ſeveral Parts of the Skin.
Observing, then that the emporium or brain itself reflects the entire product of all the senses by an impressible power, which, as by a looking-glass, exactly duplicated the external recognizers, or sense apparatus or limbs, it was inferred that the principle of duplication must be the true and exact counterpart to evergency; [...]
Related words: emporetic
Translations: