grocery
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From French grosserie (“wholesale”).[1] Compare gross.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹəʊsəɹi/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹoʊs(ə)ɹi/, /ˈɡɹoʊʃ(ə)ɹi/
Noun[edit]
grocery (plural groceries)
- (usually groceries) retail foodstuffs and other household supplies.
- 1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
- Where ten thousand pounds can be employed in the grocery trade, the wages of the grocer's labour make but a very trifling addition...
- 1850, Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets, The present time
- Did not cotton spin itself, beef grow, and groceries and spiceries come in from the East and the West, quite comfortably by the side of shams?
- 1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
- A shop or store that sells groceries; a grocery store.
- 1854: Henry David Thoreau, Walden
- I observed that the vitals of the village were the grocery, the bar-room, the post-office, and the bank...
- 1854: Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Usage notes[edit]
When referring to goods, the singular form is primarily used attributively, as in a grocery bill, a grocery list, etc. The plural form, groceries, is much more frequently used to refer to actual goods, especially in the US.
Synonyms[edit]
- (retail foodstuffs and household supplies): commodities, general goods, groceries, packaged goods
- (store that sells groceries): general store, grocery store, market, supermarket
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
retail foodstuffs and other household supplies — see groceries
shop or store that sells groceries
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References[edit]
- ^ grocery in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
