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View synonyms for shop

shop

[ shop ]

noun

  1. a retail store, especially a small one.
  2. a small store or department in a large store selling a specific or select type of goods:

    the ski shop at Smith's.

  3. the workshop of a craftsperson or artisan.
  4. the workshop of a person who works in a manual trade; place for doing specific, skilled manual work:

    a carpenter's shop.

  5. any factory, office, or business:

    Our ad agency is a well-run shop.

  6. Education.
    1. a course of instruction in a trade, as carpentry, printing, etc., consisting chiefly of training in the use of its tools and materials.
    2. a classroom in which such a course is given.
  7. one's trade, profession, or business as a subject of conversation or preoccupation.


verb (used without object)

, shopped, shop·ping.
  1. to visit shops and stores for purchasing or examining goods.
  2. to seek or examine goods, property, etc., offered for sale:

    Retail merchants often stock their stores by shopping in New York.

  3. to seek a bargain, investment, service, etc. (usually followed by for ):

    I'm shopping for a safe investment that pays good interest.

verb (used with object)

, shopped, shop·ping.
  1. to seek or examine goods, property, etc., offered for sale in or by:

    She's shopping the shoe stores this afternoon.

  2. Chiefly British Informal.
    1. to put into prison; jail.
    2. to behave treacherously toward; inform on; betray.
  3. Slang. to try to sell (merchandise or a project) in an attempt to obtain an order or contract.

interjection

  1. (used in a store, shop, etc., in calling an employee to wait on a customer.)

shop

/ ʃɒp /

noun

  1. a place, esp a small building, for the retail sale of goods and services
  2. an act or instance of shopping, esp household shopping

    the weekly shop

  3. a place for the performance of a specified type of work; workshop
  4. all over the shop informal.
    all over the shop
    1. in disarray

      his papers were all over the shop

    2. in every direction

      I've searched for it all over the shop

  5. shut up shop
    shut up shop
    1. to close business at the end of the day or permanently
    2. to become defensive or inactive
  6. talk shop
    talk shop to speak about one's work, esp when meeting socially, sometimes with the effect of excluding those not similarly employed


verb

  1. introften foll byfor to visit a shop or shops in search of (goods) with the intention of buying them
  2. slang.
    tr to inform on or betray, esp to the police

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Other Words From

  • inter·shop adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of shop1

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English shoppe (noun), Old English sceoppa “booth”; akin to scypen “stall” ( shippon ), German Schopf “lean-to,” Schuppen “shed”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of shop1

Old English sceoppa stall, booth; related to Old High German scopf shed, Middle Dutch schoppe stall

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. set up shop, to go into business; begin business operations:

    to set up shop as a taxidermist.

  2. shut up shop,
    1. to close a business temporarily, as at the end of the day.
    2. to suspend business operations permanently:

      They couldn't make a go of it and had to shut up shop.

  3. talk shop, to discuss one's trade, profession, or business:

    After dinner we all sat around the table and talked shop.

More idioms and phrases containing shop

In addition to the idiom beginning with shop , also see bull in a china shop ; close up (shop) ; set up (shop) ; shut up (shop) ; talk shop .

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Example Sentences

The deal, struck in November 2019, ran into trouble after coronavirus-related lockdowns closed shops around the world and curbed international travel, hitting demand for luxury goods.

From Fortune

When two restaurants and a small retail shop all closed within a year of one another, my weekend sales dropped approximately 25 percent.

Previously, masks were required only on public transport, in shops, and in some school contexts.

From Fortune

The way customers shop has drastically changed during the pandemic so we needed to make sure our benefits addressed their top concerns and that we had an offering that was ready and available to them.

From Fortune

Before getting this recommendation from a colleague, I was buying masks piecemeal from Etsy sellers and various shops, but I hadn’t found one that I felt fit right.

From Fortune

Finding the shop is a trip in itself and an introduction to a slice of history.

I suspect [Teresa] will get money sent in to her, so she can shop at the commissary.

The rapid rise of the sharing economy is changing the way people around the world commute, shop, vacation, and borrow.

I remember being appalled that he killed off Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.

They were getting more imaginative,” a pawn shop owner thinks of his addict customers in “Back of Beyond.

But at the instant I caught a sight of my counterfeit presentment in a shop window, and veiled my haughty crest.

Then a fat, untidy old man appeared in the doorway of a cubicle within the shop, and Edwin Clayhanger blushed.

She wore a little red hood, and looked wistfully after Davy as the shop went out of sight.

Robin Hood stared at him for a moment with a puzzled expression, and then walked into his little shop, and Davy turned away.

His Shop is the Randenvous of spitting, where men dialogue with their noses, and their conversation is smoke.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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