sell
see also: Sell
Pronunciation Verb

sell (sells, present participle selling; past and past participle sold)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, ditransitive) To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Matthew 19:21 ↗:
      If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.
    I'll sell you all three for a hundred dollars.
    Sorry, I'm not prepared to sell.
  2. (ergative) To be sold.
    This old stock will never sell.
    The corn sold for a good price.
  3. To promote a product or service.
    • 2016, "The Fetal Kick Catalyst", The Big Bang Theory
      Howard: You're gonna feel terrible when I'm in a wheelchair. Which, by the way, would fit easily in the back of this award-winning minivan.
      Bernadette: Fine, we'll go to the E.R. Just stop selling me on the van.
      Howard: You're right. It sells itself.
  4. To promote a particular viewpoint.
    My boss is very old-fashioned and I'm having a lot of trouble selling the idea of working at home occasionally.
  5. To betray for money.
  6. (slang) To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.
  7. (professional wrestling, slang) To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

sell (plural sells)

  1. An act of selling.
    This is going to be a tough sell.
  2. An easy task.
  3. (colloquial, dated) An imposition, a cheat; a hoax; a disappointment; anything occasioning a loss of pride or dignity.
    • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, ch. 12
      "Of course a miracle may happen, and you may be a great painter, but you must confess the chances are a million to one against it. It'll be an awful sell if at the end you have to acknowledge you've made a hash of it."
    • 1922, Katherine Mansfield, The Doll's House (Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback 2002, 354)
      What a sell for Lena!
Noun

sell (plural sells)

  1. (obsolete) A seat or stool.
  2. (archaic) A saddle.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ii:
      turning to that place, in which whyleare / He left his loftie steed with golden sell, / And goodly gorgeous barbes, him found not theare [...].
Noun

sell (plural sells)

  1. (regional, obsolete) A rope (usually for tying up cattle, but can also mean any sort of rope).
    He picked up the sell from the straw-strewn barn-floor, snelly sneaked up behind her and sleekly slung it around her swire while scryingː "dee, dee ye fooking quhoreǃ".

Sell
Proper noun
  1. Surname



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