sell

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[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

From Old English sellan (“give”), later "give up for money", from Proto-Germanic *saljanan.

[edit] Verb

sell (third-person singular simple present sells, present participle selling, simple past and past participle sold)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To agree to transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.
    I'll sell you all three for a hundred dollars.
    Sorry, I'm not prepared to sell.
  2. (ergative) To be sold.
    This old stock will never sell.
  3. 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.
  4. To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.
    I don't know what she was selling when she pretended she liked him.
    • 2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Liverpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, BBC:
      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.
  5. (professional wrestling, slang) To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
[edit] Antonyms
[edit] Derived terms
Terms derived from sell
[edit] Translations
to agree to transfer goods or provide services
to be sold
to promote a particular viewpoint
professional wrestling: to act
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Quotations

  • To trick, or cheat someone.
  • (Can we date this quote?) Mark Twain, chapter 23, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
    House was jammed again that night, and we sold this crowd the same way.

[edit] Noun

sell (plural sells)

  1. An act of selling.
    This is going to be a tough sell.
  2. An easy task.
    • 1922: What a sell for Lena! - Katherine Mansfield, The Doll's House (Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback 2002, 354)

[edit] Etymology 2

From French selle, from Latin sella.

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Noun

sell (plural sells)

  1. (obsolete) A seat or stool.
  2. (archaic) A saddle.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ii:
      turning to that place, in which whyleare / He left his loftie steed with golden sell, / And goodly gorgeous barbes, him found not theare [...].

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Breton

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

sell m. (plural selloù)

  1. look, glance

[edit] Scots

[edit] Etymology

From Old English sellan.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Verb

tae sell (third-person singular simple present sells, present participle sellin, simple past sellt or sauld, past participle sellt or sauld)

  1. To sell.
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