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Consult Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, The Chambers Thesaurus (1996) or Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1997 edition with amendments). Enter your search and choose your title from the drop-down menu.

  



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Search results for 'trade':

trade noun 1 a the act, an instance or the process of buying and selling; b buying and selling at an international level • foreign trade. 2 a a job, occupation or means of earning a living that involves skilled work, especially as opposed to professional or unskilled work • left school at 16 to learn a trade; b the people and businesses that are involved in a specified job of this kind • the building trade. 3 a business and commerce, especially as opposed to a profession or the owning of landed property; b the people involved in this. 4 customers • the lunch-time trade. 5 business at a specified time, for a specified market or of a specified nature • the tourist trade. 6 (trades) the trade winds. verb (traded, trading) 1 intrans to buy and sell; to engage in trading • trades in securities. 2 a to exchange (one commodity) for another; b to exchange (blows, insults, etc); c colloq to swap • traded a photo of Johnny Depp for one of Brad Pitt. trading noun, adj. by trade as a means of earning a living • a plumber by trade.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: originally meaning 'a course or path'.

trade something in to give something, eg a car, domestic appliance, etc, as part payment for something else, especially for a newer, more sophisticated etc version. See also trade-in.

trade something off to give something in exchange for something else, usually as a compromise. See also trade-off.

trade on something 1 to take unfair advantage of something, especially someone else's generosity, gullibility, etc • traded on his sister's popularity. 2 to use something, eg a personal attribute, to one's advantage • trades on her good looks.