Trade

TRADE, noun [Latin tracto, to handle, use, treat.]

1. The act or business of exchanging commodities by barter; or the business of buying and selling for money; commerce; traffic; barter. trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing, either in the produce of land, in manufactures, in bills or money. It is however chiefly used to denote the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares and merchandise, either by wholesale or retail. trade is either foreign, or domestic or inland. Foreign trade consists in the exportation and importation of goods, or the exchange of the commodities of different countries. Domestic or home trade is the exchange or buying and selling of goods within a country. trade is also by the wholesale, that is, by the package or in large quantities, or it is by retail, or in small parcels.

The carrying trade is that of transporting commodities from one country to another by water.

2. The business which a person has learned and which he carries on for procuring subsistence or for profit; occupation; particularly, mechanical employment; distinguished from the liberal arts and learned professions, and from agriculture. Thus we speak of the trade of a smith, of a carpenter or mason. But we never say, the trade of a farmer or of a lawyer or physician.

3. Business pursued; occupation; in contempt; as, piracy is their trade

Hunting their sport, and plund'ring was their trade

4. Instruments of any occupation.

The shepherd bears

His house and household goods, his trade of war.

5. Employment not manual; habitual exercise.

6. Custom; habit; standing practice.

Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade

7. Men engaged in the same occupation. Thus booksellers speak of the customs of the trade

TRADE, verb intransitive To barter, or to buy and sell; to deal in the exchange, purchase or sale of goods, wares and merchandise, or any thing else; to traffic; to carry on commerce as a business. Thus American merchants trade with the English at London and at Liverpool; they trade with the French at Havre and Bordeaux, and they trade with Canada. The country shopkeepers trade with London merchants. Our banks are permitted to trade in bills of exchange.

1. To buy and sell or exchange property, in a single instance. Thus we say, man treats with another for his farm, but cannot trade with him. A traded with B for a horse or a number of sheep.

2. To act merely for money.

How did you dare

To trade and traffic with Macbeth?

3. To have a trade wind.

They on the trading flood ply tow'rd the pole. [Unusual.]

TRADE, verb transitive To sell or exchange in commerce.

They traded the persons of men. Ezekiel 27:12.

[This, I apprehend, must be a mistake; at least it is not to be vindicated as a legitimate use of the verb.]