a number or collection of articles purchased the act or an instance of making purchases
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
shop /ʃɑp/USA pronunciation
n., v., shopped, shop•ping.
n.
v.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026n.
- [countable] a store, esp. a small one.
- a small store or department in a large store selling a special type of goods:[countable]the ski shop at Smith's.
- Building a place for doing skilled artistic or manual work;
workshop:[countable]a carpenter's shop. - any factory, office, or business:[countable]How are things at the shop these days?
- Education
- Education[uncountable] a school course in a trade, in which the use of tools is taught:took shop in high school.
v.
- to visit shops for buying or examining goods:[no object]My parents went out to shop.
- to purchase without visiting stores:[no object]to shop by telephone.
- to search;
hunt:[~ + for + object]shopping for a husband.
- Idioms set up shop, to open as a business:set up shop in a small building but soon expanded.
- Idioms talk shop, to talk about a shared trade, profession, or business:At the party the two dentists talked shop instead of mingling with the other guests.
shop•ping
(shop′ing),USA pronunciation n.
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- the act of a person who shops.
- the facilities or merchandise available to those who shop:Chicago has good shopping.
adj.
- of, for, or pertaining to examining and buying merchandise:a shopping trip.
- shop + -ing1, -ing2 1755–65
shop
(shop),USA pronunciation n., v., shopped, shop•ping, interj.
n.
v.i.
v.t.
interj.
n.
- a retail store, esp. a small one.
- a small store or department in a large store selling a specific or select type of goods:the ski shop at Smith's.
- Buildingthe workshop of a craftsperson or artisan.
- Buildingthe workshop of a person who works in a manual trade;
place for doing specific, skilled manual work:a carpenter's shop. - any factory, office, or business:Our ad agency is a well-run shop.
- Education
- Educationa course of instruction in a trade, as carpentry, printing, etc., consisting chiefly of training in the use of its tools and materials.
- a classroom in which such a course is given.
- one's trade, profession, or business as a subject of conversation or preoccupation.
- set up shop, to go into business;
begin business operations:to set up shop as a taxidermist. - shut up shop:
- to close a business temporarily, as at the end of the day.
- to suspend business operations permanently:They couldn't make a go of it and had to shut up shop.
- talk shop, to discuss one's trade, profession, or business:After dinner we all sat around the table and talked shop.
v.i.
- to visit shops and stores for purchasing or examining goods.
- to seek or examine goods, property, etc., offered for sale:Retail merchants often stock their stores by shopping in New York.
- to seek a bargain, investment, service, etc. (usually fol. by for):I'm shopping for a safe investment that pays good interest.
v.t.
- to seek or examine goods, property, etc., offered for sale in or by:She's shopping the shoe stores this afternoon.
- British Terms[Chiefly Brit. Informal.]
- to put into prison;
jail. - to behave treacherously toward;
inform on;
betray.
- to put into prison;
- Slang Termsto try to sell (merchandise or a project) in an attempt to obtain an order or contract.
interj.
- (used in a store, shop, etc., in calling an employee to wait on a customer.)
- 1250–1300; Middle English shoppe (noun, nominal), Old English sceoppa booth; akin to scypen stall, shippon, German Schopf lean-to, Schuppen shed
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
a place, esp a small building, for the retail sale of goods and services an act or instance of shopping, esp household shopping a place for the performance of a specified type of work; workshop - all over the shop ⇒
in disarray: his papers were all over the shop in every direction: I've searched for it all over the shop - shut up shop ⇒
to close business at the end of the day or permanently to become defensive or inactive - talk shop ⇒
to speak about one's work, esp when meeting socially, sometimes with the effect of excluding those not similarly employed
- (intransitive) often followed by for:
to visit a shop or shops in search of goods with the intention of buying them - (transitive)
to inform on or betray, esp to the police