Synonyms

sell out

[sel] Origin

sell

1[sel] verb, sold, sell·ing, noun
verb (used with object)
1.
to transfer (goods) to or render (services) for another in exchange for money; dispose of to a purchaser for a price: He sold the car to me for $1000.
2.
to deal in; keep or offer for sale: He sells insurance. This store sells my favorite brand.
3.
to make a sale or offer for sale to: He'll sell me the car for $1000.
4.
to persuade or induce (someone) to buy something: The salesman sold me on a more expensive model than I wanted.
5.
to persuade or induce someone to buy (something): The clerk really sold the shoes to me by flattery.
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6.
to make sales of: The hot record sold a million copies this month.
7.
to cause to be accepted, especially generally or widely: to sell an idea to the public.
8.
to cause or persuade to accept; convince: to sell the voters on a candidate.
9.
to accept a price for or make a profit of (something not a proper object for such action): to sell one's soul for political power.
10.
to force or exact a price for: The defenders of the fort sold their lives dearly.
11.
Informal. to cheat, betray, or hoax.
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verb (used without object)
12.
to engage in selling something.
13.
to be on sale.
14.
to offer something for sale: I like this house—will they sell?
15.
to be employed to persuade or induce others to buy, as a salesperson or a clerk in a store: One sister is a cashier and the other sells.
16.
to have a specific price; be offered for sale at the price indicated (followed by at or for): Eggs used to sell at sixty cents a dozen. This shirt sells for thirty dollars.
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17.
to be in demand by buyers: On a rainy day, umbrellas really sell.
18.
to win acceptance, approval, or adoption: Here's an idea that'll sell.
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Sell out is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
noun
19.
an act or method of selling.
20.
Stock Exchange. a security to be sold.
21.
Informal. a cheat; hoax.
22.
sell off, to sell, especially at reduced prices, in order to get rid of: The city is selling off a large number of small lots at public auction.
23.
sell out,
a.
to dispose of entirely by selling.
b.
to betray (an associate, one's country, a cause, etc.); turn traitor: He committed suicide rather than sell out to the enemy.
24.
sell up, British. to sell out: She was forced to sell up her entire stock of crystal.
25.
sell short. short (def. 49).
26.
sell (someone) a bill of goods. bill of goods (def. 3).

Origin:
before 900; Middle English sellen (v.), Old English sellan orig., to give, hence, give up (someone) to an enemy, betray, exchange for money; cognate with Old Norse selja, Low German sellen, Gothic saljan to give up, sell, orig., to cause to take; akin to Greek heleîn to take

sell·a·ble, adjective


1. exchange, vend. See trade.


1. buy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To sell out
Collins
World English Dictionary
sell out
 
vb
1.  Also (chiefly Brit): sell up to dispose of (supplies of something) completely by selling
2.  informal (tr) to betray, esp through a secret agreement
3.  informal (intr) to abandon one's principles, standards, etc
 
n
4.  informal a performance for which all tickets are sold
5.  a commercial success
6.  informal a betrayal
7.  informal a person who betrays their principles, standards, friends, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

sell
O.E. sellan "to give," from P.Gmc. *saljanan (cf. O.N. selja "to hand over, deliver, sell;" O.Fris. sella, O.H.G. sellen "to give, hand over, sell;" Goth. saljan "to offer a sacrifice"), perhaps a causative form of the root of O.E. sala "sale." One of the first things a student of Old English has to
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learn is that the word that looks like sell usually means "give." Meaning "to give up for money" had emerged by c.1000. An O.E. word for "to sell" was bebycgan, from bycgan "to buy." Slang meaning "to swindle" is from 1597. The noun phrase hard sell is recorded from 1952. To sell one's soul is from c.1570. Sell-by date is from 1972. To sell (someone) down the river is first recorded 1927, but probably from slavery days, on notion of sale from the Upper South to the cotton plantations of the Deep South (attested in this literal sense since 1851). To sell like hot cakes is from 1839.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

sell (so) out definition


  1. tv.
    to betray someone. : How could you sell me out like that?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

sell out

  1. Dispose of entirely by selling. For example, The rancher finally sold out to the oil company, or The tickets to the concert were sold out a month ago. [Late 1700s]

  2. Betray one's cause or colleagues, as in He sold out to the other side. [Slang; late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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