a person who buys and sells commodities for profit; dealer; trader.
2.
a storekeeper; retailer: a local merchant who owns a store on Main Street.
3.
Chiefly British. a wholesaler.
–adjective
4.
pertaining to or used for trade or commerce: a merchant ship.
5.
pertaining to the merchant marine.
6.
Steelmaking. (of bars and ingots) of standard shape or size.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME marchant < OF marcheant < VL *mercātant- (s. of *mercātāns), prp. of *mercātāre, freq. of L mercārī to trade, deriv. of merx goods]
One whose occupation is the wholesale purchase and retail sale of goods for profit.
One who runs a retail business; a shopkeeper.
adj.
Of or relating to merchants, merchandise, or commercial trade: a merchant guild.
Of or relating to the merchant marine: merchant ships.
[Middle English merchaunt, from Old French marcheant, from Vulgar Latin *mercātāns, present participle of *mercātāre, frequentative of Latin mercārī, to trade, from merx, merc-, merchandise.]
c.1200, from Anglo-Fr. marchaunt (O.Fr. marcheant, Fr. marchand), from V.L. *mercatantem (nom. *mercatans) "a buyer," prp. of *mercatare, freq. of L. mercari "to trade" (see market).
Com"merce\, n. Note: (Formerly accented on the second syllable.) [F. commerce, L. commercium; com- + merx, mercis, merchandise. See Merchant.]1. The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; esp. the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic. The public becomes powerful in proportion to the opulence and extensive commerce of private men. --Hume. 2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity. Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [Bunyan] wiser. --Macaulay. 3. Sexual intercourse. --W. Montagu. 4. A round game at cards, in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade. --Hoyle. Chamber of commerce. See Chamber. Syn: Trade; traffic; dealings; intercourse; interchange; communion; communication.
Mar"ket\, n. [Akin to D. markt, OHG. mark[=a]t, merk[=a]t, G. markt; all fr.L. mercatus trade, market place, fr. mercari, p. p. mercatus, to trade, traffic, merx, mercis, ware, merchandise, prob. akin to merere to deserve, gain, acquire: cf. F. march['e]. See Merit, and cf. Merchant, Mart.]1. A meeting together of people, at a stated time and place, for the purpose of traffic (as in cattle, provisions, wares, etc.) by private purchase and sale, and not by auction; as, a market is held in the town every week. He is wit's peddler; and retails his wares At wakes, and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs. --Shak. Three women and a goose make a market. --Old Saying. 2. A public place (as an open space in a town) or a large building, where a market is held; a market place or market house; esp., a place where provisions are sold. There is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool. --John v. 2. 3. An opportunity for selling anything; demand, as shown by price offered or obtainable; a town, region, or country, where the demand exists; as, to find a market for one's wares; there is no market for woolen cloths in that region; India is a market for English goods. There is a third thing to be considered: how a market can be created for produce, or how production can be limited to the capacities of the market. --J. S. Mill. 4. Exchange, or purchase and sale; traffic; as, a dull market; a slow market. 5. The price for which a thing is sold in a market; market price. Hence: Value; worth. What is a man If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed ? --Shak. 6. (Eng. Law) The privelege granted to a town of having a public market. Note: Market is often used adjectively, or in forming compounds of obvious meaning; as, market basket, market day, market folk, market house, marketman, market place, market price, market rate, market wagon, market woman, and the like. Market beater, a swaggering bully; a noisy braggart. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Market bell, a bell rung to give notice that buying and selling in a market may begin. [Eng.] --Shak. Market cross, a cross set up where a market is held. --Shak. Market garden, a garden in which vegetables are raised for market. Market gardening, the raising of vegetables for market. Market place, an open square or place in a town where markets or public sales are held. Market town, a town that has the privilege of a stated public market.
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